Being a Girl
by Some Girl101
Summary: Warning: YAOI ShanksXLuffy. Shanks and Luffy meet but... Luffy is a girl? What happens when Shanks starts to fall for himher?
1. Chance Meeting

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.  
**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' ** what they are thinking**

"…" ** what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece and all it's characters.

Being a Girl

Chapter 1: Chance Meeting

------------

------On the Straw Hat Pirate Ship----

"Ok, listen Luffy," said Nami as she looked her captain in the eye, dead serious, "You need to dress up as a girl."

"Eh?"

"The island that we'll be at in an hour has a marine base on it, and I don't want them to recognize you like last time." Nami stated, remembering the last time someone recognized Luffy.

"..."

"It'll be fun." The girl smirked.

"Err… ok." Luffy said sealing his fate. "If it'll be fun."

"Oh, it'll be VERY fun."

-----57 minutes later-----

As they were three minutes from the island Nami and Robin came out of the girls cabin. All the crew was gathered around. "I present to you," Nami said gesturing toward the open door where you could see the shadowy figure of a person standing, "Rully!"

Everyone's jaws dropped as Luffy walked out. Sanji had to force his eye not to turn into a heart. Before them stood what looked to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Tom-boyish looking, but beautiful all the same.

Everyone in the crew shared the same thoughts, even Sanji and Zoro: '_She doesn't look anything like Luffy_.' The scar under his eye seemed to have disappeared. '_Must have been some really good cover-up._' He had a wig on: wavy, waist length, blond hair. '_Wonder where they got that from._' A small bust. '_Actually looks like the real thing._' And tight jeans with a long sleeved, button up, loose red shirt. '_Probably to cover up his non-girlish frame… and dang! Luffy's legs were thin_.'

"It was quite a challenge," Nami said wiping some imaginary sweat from her forehead. "What do you guys think?"

All the men standing around could do was gawk at the fact that this person if front of them was Luffy. "I believe they like it." Robin stated chuckling.

"These pants are soooo tight," Luffy complained poking the jean material. "Can I take them off?"

Nami glared at him, "No Luffy, it took us twenty minutes to get them on, I'm NOT going though that again."

"You saw Luffy naked?" someone questioned.

"Oh course not! He had his boxers on," She retorted blushing slightly. "Anyway, we'll be at the island in a minute, but it'll take a few days for the log pose to set. Until then, stock up on provisions; it might be a while till the next island." Nami said holding onto the back of Luffy's shirt so he didn't rush off. "And Luffy," she turned him around so he was looking her directly in the eye, "Don't forget all that I told you. I don't want to be chassed out by a bunch of marines again."

-----15 minutes later-----

"Isn't this a cute dress Robin?" Nami said as they walked though a shop.

Robin chuckled, "It is Navigator-san, but I've been wondering; why did you want to make Captain-san look like a girl when you could have just covered up his scar and hid his hat?"

"It's more fun," Nami said laughing evilly, scrunching up the shirt she was holding in her hands as her eyes sparkled. "And now no one will even be close to recognizing him!" She picked out a few more clothes to try on and stacked them onto an even larger pile... which Sanji was holding, his eyes in hearts. "Oh, and Robin, that was a great idea you had; putting Luffy's hat into a bag which he could sling over his shoulder and carry around. He'd never leave without it otherwise."

"Thank you Navigator-san."

-----In a bar-----

"Check out that blond-haired chick!" One drunken pirate said to his fellow drunk. "Those ar' some nice legs she got."

"They just skinny, she got no curves, an' there ar' some sharp edges there. Women shoul' be more... curvy an' smooth, hic." The second replied, his words slurring slightly more then the first man.

Luffy sat at the bar eating, wondering why everyone was staring at him.

"Hey sexy!" A man from behind Luffy said in what he thought was a alluring voice. Luffy didn't even turn around. It wasn't because he didn't hear him, it's just that Luffy forgot (in a way) that he was dressed up as a girl. "Hey! Don't ignore me bitch!" The man yelled, turning slightly red from anger, and maybe from the liquor he drank earlier. Everyone in the bar stopped what they were doing to watch. The man grabbed Luffy by the shoulder and spun him around so they were face to face.

"Huh?" Luffy said looking up at the beet-faced man. _'He smells really bad'_ Luffy thought. And since Luffy was Luffy he said what he thought directly to the man, "Old man, you smell."

The red faced man turned even redder. A few people in the bar chuckled, but most didn't because they knew this man was a pirate, and that comment was going to cost the girl.

"Why you wench!" The man lifted up a fist to strike the girl who to his surprised looked calm, and even spectacle. _'Thinks just because she's a girl she gonna get it easy. I'll teach her a lesson.'_ The man put down his fist, and just as a few people in the bar wondered why he wasn't going to smack her, the man pulled out his gun and shot strait at Luffy.

But the bullet never reached it's target, it was stopped by a sword, to which a red-haired man with one arm was holding.

------------

**Author's Note: **And that's the end of Chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it.


	2. Getting to Know You

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Also, for this chapter only, slight hits to some of Luffy's relatives. (Nothing big.)**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' ** what they are thinking**

"…" ** what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece and all it's characters, I can only dream.

Being a Girl

Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

-------------

Shanks liked women. Even though he was a pirate of the seas and rarely got a chance to even see any, he liked them. But he didn't **love** them. They where just to... **girly**. That is… until he met a tomboy girl called Rully.

-----------

"Oi, you realize you almost got shot, right?" Shanks said to the pretty girl as they walked together down the street in the beautiful fall weather.

"Shishishi, that was so cool how you scared those guys off by blocking that bullet!" Luffy said smiling.

'_Hm, most people's eyes aren't fast enough to see a bullet block.' _Shanks thought, though he didn't voice his suspicion out loud, "Oi, are you avoiding the question?" When he received no answer other then some chuckles he dropped the question and asked, "So what's your name?"

Luffy thought for a second, receiving a strange look from Shanks, "Oh yeah… Rully"

Shanks lifted an eyebrow, "That took you a while."

Luffy looked a bit nervous, _'I need to be a girl… girl… girl… girl… gi-'_

"I'm just kidding with you... so where do you live? I'll walk you home." Shanks chuckled a little.

"I'm... not from around here..." Luffy said after thinking a while.

"Then where are you staying?"

"Um..." Luffy had to do some more quick thinking, something he didn't do often. "I need to do some shopping at the store before I go home, so it's ok." _'Though I don't want you to leave...' _Luffy thought sadly. _'Ah... an idea...'_ "Oh.. but I still haven't thanked you for saving me properly..." he trailed off; his idea was incomplete.

"That's ok." Shanks smiled, "but are you ok from before; at the bar? You looked pretty shocked. Though I'm sure anyone would be."

_'It wasn't because I was afraid of the gun… but because I was surprised to see you, Shanks._' Out aloud Luffy voiced pointingly, "You weren't scared."

"Dogged the question again, huh?" Shanks said, still smiling. _'How weird,'_ Shanks thought_, 'I know I smile a lot, but with Rully, I can't even stop.' _ He mental smacked himself. _'Snap out of it Shanks! She's not __**that**__ cute.' _He looked down at the girl, _'yeah, she is.'_

After a few seconds of silence Luffy pitched in, "I heard there's this cool park nearby, want to go with me?"

Shanks looked surprised for a second, "That's not something a girl says to a stranger every day," he teased.

Luffy pouted, "Well, you did save my life! But if you don't want to go..." he trailed off.

"I'd love to." Shanks chuckled. _'Ok, maybe the 'love' was a bit much.'_

-------A few hours later, in the park--------

"That was so much fun!" Luffy giggled. "Thanks for catching me."

Shanks was laughing so hard he could barely choke out, "No problem."

The two were enjoying themselves like kids. In their last mini-adventure Luffy had climbed up into a tree with thin branches. Shanks had told him they would break and he would fall. Just after Luffy finished saying he wouldn't, he had come crashing down with the branch he was standing on. Luckily Shanks had caught him. A nice save for a one armed man.

"Want to go get some more ice-cream? Since most of your last one ended up on that dog." Shanks offered.

Earlier, they had been eating ice cream and Luffy accidentally swung his arm and got his scoop of strawberry ice-cream on a dog. They tried to use some water form the nearby lake to wash off the dog, but it obviously didn't like the water, and had started to run away. After they chased it down, Shanks held the dog down while Luffy cleaned it off. Their only mistake was that they forgot dogs can shake their fur, and they both got wet.

"Yay! More ice-cream!" Luffy laughed while hopping excitingly in the direction of where they bought their frozen treat last time. Shanks followed walking normally, but obviously enjoying himself just as much as Luffy.

------15 minutes later-----

They were walking though the park both eating ice-cream. _'We've been here for a while, the sun will start going down soon.' _Shanks noted. "Hey Rully"

Luffy looked up at the man, "Hm?" He smiled.

"Uh…" _'Maybe just a little longer…_' "So… what's in your bag?" Shanks pointed at the small bag Luffy had hanging over his shoulder.

Luffy thought for a minute, _'should I tell him?' _"Well…" _'But then he'll know it's me, and he definitely won't treat me the same. I like it how it is now…' _"Secrete!" Luffy said finishing his ice-cream in super-human speed.

"Aww"

"Shishishi"

They walked in silence for a few minutes enjoying the scenery. The park was huge, with lots of fall leaves and amazingly bright-green grass everywhere. You could get lost in it… which is exactly what happened.

"Um… Rully, do you know where we are?"

"Nope."

"Well I don't either…."

"We're lost?"

"Yeah." Shanks smiled, completely calm.

"Oh well! It'll be fun trying to find our way back!"

"Your definition of fun is a bit off."

"No it's not" Luffy stuck his tongue out, "It's probably just you, because your old."

"I'm not old!"

"How old are you?"

"27"

"Liar!" Luffy laughed.

"37"

"Hah! 19"

"Of course your younger." Shanks pointed out.

"Shishshi"

"You know, that's not necessarily a good thing, because compared to me you're just a kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Kid."

"Humph!" Luffy pouted and looked away.

"…."

"…."

"You know, you kind of remind me of this boy I met a long time ago." The older man said after a moment of silence.

"?"

Shanks smiled, remembering. "He had the same reaction when I called him a kid."

"It's because I'm not a kid!" Luffy defended.

"Hahaha, ok, then what are you?"

"I'm a…" _'man… wait, that doesn't sound right... And not only that, but I'm suppose to be a girl…' _"lady!" Luffy mentally patted himself of the back for his great conclusion. "I'm a lady!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes!"

Then something Luffy never expected to happen, happened. Shanks had just finished his ice-cream and with his now free hand scooped some of Luffy's long blond hair (the wig) and brought it up close to his face, breathing in it's sent with closed eyes. Luffy blushed as Shanks said, "I always wondered what a lady's hair smelled like." The younger boy blushed harder when the man opened his eyes to look at him, "Yours smells good." Shanks was smiling a warm smile. But the moment passed and the older man suddenly realized, _'Shit! I got caught up in the moment! What am I doing? She's eighteen years younger then me! I can't be acting like __**this**__!' _ Shanks let go of Luffy's hair and tried to ease the awkwardness by asking, "What shampoo do you use_?" 'Man, I should have been able to think of something better; that was lame.'_

"I don't know," Luffy answered, face scarlet, but grinning all the same.

"You don't know?" Shanks sweat dropped.

"Nope."

"Um… well, looks like the sun is starting to fade, how about I take you home?"

"Aww, but I don't want to go! Plus, how are we going to get out of here if we're lost?" Luffy pouted, the incident a moment ago already forgotten in his mind.

"I can find the way out… and your parents are probably worried."

"I don't have parents." Luffy said looking not the slightest bit sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" They younger one said tilting his head to the side, really not understanding.

"Well, it must be sad not having them around."

"It's ok, I never knew them."

"…." Shanks frowned and Luffy sensed his unease.

"But I had lost of friends that were like family, and my brother… and my grandpa!" Luffy said tiring to convince Shanks that he shouldn't be sad for him. "I'm not sad at all!"

The red haired man smiled down at him and patted his head, "That's good." He didn't let his hand linger. He knew that he shouldn't be making advancements on a girl much younger them him, especially one that he just met. But, he felt like he knew her for a long time. Probably because they had spent so much of the day together. Running after dogs, eating ice-cream, talking. He looked down at her as they walked toward what he hoped was the way out of the park. She liked to laugh, eat, and play… just like a little kid. She's energetic; always smiling and happy. Shanks felt like he knew a lot about her, even though he didn't know where she lived, or where she came from. All that mattered was that he knew how she acted and what she was like… right?

"Ah, look!" Luffy pointed ahead of them. "An exit!" It was exactly as he said; up a few stone steps and there were shops, houses, and people walking on the sidewalk.

"Finally, I thought we'd be wandering all night." Shanks said.

"Shishi, that would have been fun!"

"Right…" Shanks said dully. _'I have a feeling that if I disagree we'd be heading down the 'I'm old' conversation again, then to Rully saying she's a lady… and if that happens she'll definitely remember me touching her hair and that awkward moment. Ugh, I shouldn't have done that.' _Shanks mentally signed, _'But… she wasn't afraid of me afterwards… but she was blushing, so she must have realized exactly wha--' _

"Shanks? You ok? You're scrunching up your face." His thoughts were interrupted by Luffy's concerned voice.

"Yeah, fine." Shanks said sighing. '_I have to relax, all I did was touch her hair.' _They started to walk up the steps.

"So which way is your house? I'll walk you home." The older one said.

"Um… It's not far, I know the way!" Luffy was panicking a little. Shanks raised an eyebrow as Luffy quickly said, "I'll see you here tomorrow! Bye!" And with that the boy ran off.

"Oi! Wait!" But the beautiful girl was already far away_. 'That was strange… wait… she said, 'see you here tomorrow,' which means she's meeting me here tomorrow…' _Shanks laughed happily, _'She probably didn't mean it as a date, but it'll still be fun.'_

The red haired man walked happily toward his ship. In the opposite direction Luffy giggled like crazy while skipping, twirling, and running toward his. He was going to see Shanks again tomorrow!

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**Author's Note: **And that's the end of Chapter 2!

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as the first one. I'm sorry if anyone thought Shanks was OOC. He doesn't make a lot of appearances in One Piece, so I tried to draw his character from when he appeared in Luffy's flashback. In it he teases Luffy a lot, so I made him do the same thing here, but I also wanted him to treat Luffy a bit differently from when he was a kid. Oh and _Shishsishi, _in case anyone didn't know, is the weird laugh Luffy makes sometimes.


	3. A Strange Feeling

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece and all it's characters, I can only dream.

Being a Girl

Chapter 3: A Strange Feeling

-------------

Luffy sat up in his hammock, rubbing his eyes. The boy was so excited about seeing Shanks that he could hardly sleep. _'He'll definitely come,'_ Luffy nodded to himself. He had been to nervous yesterday to stick around for Shanks to agree on their meeting, but he knew he would come. From talking to him as a little kid and their day together yesterday, he knew.

Luffy walked out of the men's cabin, across the deck, and was about to climb down the ships ladder to head to the park when a hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Luffy, where do you think you're going?"

"To the park, Nami," the young captain turned his head and grinned his trademark smile at his navigator.

"Your quite happy, but don't you think you're forgetting something?" the navigator replied.

"Huh?"

"Well, for one, you're still in your pajamas."

Luffy looked down and noticed that she was right. "But I want to go to the park right now! What if Shanks is already there?"

"Shanks?! Red-Haired Shanks? The one who gave you your hat?" Nami was surprised.

"Yup! I ran into him yesterday, and we spent the whole day together!"

"He spent the whole day with you?"

"Yeah," Luffy grinned.

"Hmm... Did he recognize you?"

"Nope."

"Did you tell him who you were, or that you're a guy?"

"Heh, nope!"

"Why not?"

The boy shrugged.

"Well… that's… not good…"

"Why not? I like Shanks!"

Nami raised an eyebrow, "He thinks you're a girl. Now what kind of guy would spend the whole day with a girl, and the next day too, if he didn't **like** her."

"What's wrong with him liking me?"

The girl signed, "Luffy, it's the kind of 'like' where… where… ugh, never mind, I might be wrong."

"?"

"So... You were going to meet him before I stopped you?"

"Yup!" Luffy started to climb down the ladder when Nami grabbed his shirt again.

"Unless you want him to know it's you, you should change into your girl clothes."

"Oh yeah."

-----8 minutes later-----

"There! You can't see your scar at all now, and the cover-up is waterproof this time, too." Nami said, satisfied with her job of making her captain look like a girl.

"Thanks! Oh, and Nami, what time is it?" Luffy got up from his chair next to the girl, who was currently putting away her makeup.

"Around 10AM. What time did you and Shanks plan to meet?"

"Umm… I didn't say."

"That's so like you." Nami sweatdropped.

Luffy's laugh was interrupted by Sanji, "Ladies, your breakfast is ready! And the rest of you idiots too!"

There was a blur of color as Luffy ran into the kitchen, gobbled down his food, and sped off.

Nami had only reached the door when he was will into the town. "Hmm," she thought out loud, observing her captain.

---------5 minutes later------

Luffy jogged up to the park entrance; a large gate made of out intricate, metal bar designs. No one was around except for a young couple sitting in the park grass not too far away, but out of hearing distance. It looked like he'd have to wait for Shanks, though Luffy didn't mind. He dusted off his jeans, which somehow managed to get dirt on them during his run. They were black colored jeans, slightly more baggy then the tight ones he wore yesterday. His shirt was a white and red striped, long-sleeved shirt. Somehow it made him look like he had the curves of an actual girl. Luffy picked some lint off of it and looked around again to see if Shanks was coming. There was no sign of the red-haired man.

---------5 **hours** later-----------

"I wonder what happened." Luffy said, his excitement at the beginning of the day now replaced with a dull misery. He was sitting on the sidewalk edge, knees pressed against his chest. The couple in the park earlier was long gone. '_Why won't Shanks come?' _Luffy thought, resting his head on his knees, _'Did he not like hanging out with me yesterday?' _The young boy's depression increased, and he wondered_, 'Why am I so sad? I should be concerned. If Zoro, or Nami, or any my nakama wouldn't show up then I would go out looking for them. I wouldn't wait here for so long… So why?' _ Luffy tried to think, but his thoughts just kept circling back to: '_Shanks, where are you?'_

--------2 hours later---------

After hours upon hours of waiting Luffy looked up at the park entrance gates, eyes dull and face sullen. _'Shanks…' _He walked through the gates. Looking at the ground he felt like he couldn't raise his head. It was as heavy as his heart. _'Even though a time wasn't set, Shanks should have been here by now.' _The wind blew and the fall leaves stirred. There was a pile of them under one tree. If Luffy didn't feel so down he would have jumped in and played childishly. But how could he when Shanks wasn't there? The small boy eyed the leaves miserably and continued walking, starting down at the white gravel pathway. He shivered; it was a cold day. _'Shanks, where are you? Did I do something wrong?'_

"Rully!" Luffy felt soft fabric touch his face as an arm wrapped around his back, pulling him into a warm body.

"Shanks…." He pressed himself closer to the older man, who's long, black cape was blowing in the wind. It almost seemed to wrap around Luffy, as if trying to obscure him from the rest of the world, and bring him closer to the older man.

"I was really worried about you Rully!"

Luffy's head shot up, "Why were you worried about me?" He clutched at the back of Shanks' white shirt. "I was waiting for such a long time!" Only then did Luffy notice the other's worried expression_. 'Eh?'_

"You were waiting for me? Where?"

Luffy turned slightly in the older man's embrace to point in the direction where he had come from, the entrance gates still in view, though far away.

"Oh… that's why. I was on the other side of the park. I thought we would meet where we parted last time." Shanks forced a chuckle. It was hard to laugh when both of them had previously thought the other wasn't coming.

"But… that wasn't where we…" Then Luffy remembered that where they parted last time didn't have metal gates. "Oh…" The boy chuckled, burring his head into Shanks' shirt. The older man tightened his grip when the laughing turned to sobbing. "I'm sorry Shanks." Luffy looked up at the man with tear-stained eyes. "I-I'm just crying because I thought you wouldn't come… and… I… I don't know!" Luffy buried his head back in the taller man's shirt and mumbled, "Do you think it's weird that I'm sad over this?"

"No…" He paused, "I was heartbroken when I thought you weren't coming."

"Why wouldn't I come to meet you?" Luffy voice was muffled by the shirt his face was currently in.

"I don't know." _'Because you might have realized it's bad hanging out with an older man like me.'_

Luffy lifted his head to smile up at him. "So, what do you want to do today?"

---A few hours later---

Luffy walked though the park with Shanks, humming happily as the sun began to set. Luffy wondered why he felt so miserable when Shanks hadn't shown up. And he had **cried** too, something he never wanted to do in front of Shanks. When he was small he had vowed to get strong, strong enough not to cry, but just a few hours ago he was sobbing away. Though he felt better afterward, being with Shanks just made him act so **out of character**. If it wasn't the author's fault, then why? Luffy couldn't figure it out.

"Well, looks like the sun's setting." Shanks stated looking at the fast darkening sky. "We should start heading back, hopefully we'll find our way out again."

"Shishishi, I hope not," Luffy laughed, "That way I'll get to stay with you longer!"

Shanks grinned down at the boy, "Your not afraid of the dark?"

"Of course not! It'll be fun being in a park at night."

"Fun? How?"

"My brother always told me that places seem completely different at night." The boy bounced up and down in excitement.

"Your brother, eh? What's his name?"

"A--" **BOOOOM**!!!!!!! Luffy was interrupted by the deafening noise of an explosion. "Wow! That was loud! What do you think it was? Let's go check it out!" Luffy slurred in the same breath, curiosity and excitement propelling him towards the sound before he even finished his last sentence.

Shanks ran after the already far away Luffy. _'How does she run so fast?!'_

"Ah!" Luffy's yell was heard as he suddenly disappeared from Shanks' vision.

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	4. More Than Friends

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned One Piece. It really belongs to Oda.

Being a Girl

Chapter 4: More Than Friends

-------------

Luffy landed clumsily on the dusty ground bellow. He had fallen a long way through a hole in the ground. Bewildered, he looked around. The only source of lighting was an oil lamp sitting on a small, wooden table. Next to it, Luffy saw as his eyes adjusted, was a wooden door.

"Rully, where are you?" A faint voice from above called.

"Sha-" Luffy was about to call back when the caller fell through the hole himself, all but landing on top of the smaller boy. They ended up in a rather _compromising_ position. Shanks quickly rolled off to the side so Luffy could stand up without anyone pinning him to the ground. The younger boy, being as thick as he is, didn't notice their previous position. He got up and reached out a hand to the older man, who smiled and took it. Shanks, a bit disheveled from the high fall, didn't notice the material that held his foot to the sandal had snapped. He went to stand up and put his weight forward on the broken sandal. His foot slipped off the top and shot out in front. He fell backwards, taking Luffy with him.

They landed in an ungraceful heap. Luffy laughed, but Shanks was to busy blushing madly. It wasn't because he was embarrassed that he fell, but at the awkward position they landed in, again. Luffy was lying flat against Shanks' body. He was straddling the older man, legs resting flat on each side of him, and elbows on each side of his head. Their noses were only inches away.

One didn't notice, and the other didn't know what to do.

Finally, Luffy stopped giggling at the older man's clumsiness long enough to notice. He blushed as hard as Shanks.

"Heh, I should let you get up." Luffy franticly and quickly moved to put his weight on his left foot so he could bring himself up. But in his quick movement to get off, his foot slipped just as Shanks' had earlier. Luffy fell back down, though this time his mouth found purchase against something soft. Shanks and Luffy stared wide-eyed at each other as their lips pressed together in a kiss.

A moment passed and neither pulled away. Luffy decided he liked the tingling feeling on his lips. While closing his eyes he added more pressure. He adjusted his body so that he was on his knees and elbows. Arching his back downward, he dipped his head more to get the most out of the amazing feeling.

Shanks was very happy, to say the least, when he felt Luffy kiss back. The older man's eyes closed to a half lidded state as he wrapped his arm around the boys' back, pulling the other more to him. It was a rather chaste kiss, but seemed to last for a delightful eternity. They pulled away and opened their eyes to look at one another, asking silently if the contact was enjoyed. The answer was an unspoken _yes_. In a moment their heads pushed forward again, eyes slipping closed as well. Luffy moved his bottom lip slowly down and up, loving the felling he got as it moved against Shanks' amazingly soft, warm lips.

**BOOOMMMMM!!!! **The deafening explosion sounded, completely ruining the moment. Luffy jumped up, "It's the mystery explosion again!" He ran over to the door he had seen earlier. Shanks was left bewildered and forgotten on the floor. "Lets go, Shanks!" Luffy said as the door easily opened.

"Right," Shanks stood up, mentally crying over the fact that the other had so easily moved on from their kiss.

"Shishishi," Luffy waited till Shanks had walked over, then grabbed his hands and started running up the stairs that the door had opened up to.

Shanks looked at the boy in front of him, who was leading him with quick feet up the stairs. Even though it was rather dark, he noticed that the other was blushing slightly. _'So it did mean something to her.'_

After what seemed to be a lot of going up the stairs led to a layer of hard surface. Poor Luffy ran his head full-force into it. The sound of skull hitting wood could be heard even from far away. After a worried Shanks made sure Luffy was ok, he felt around the section the younger boy had ran into. Just as he thought, there was a handle. He twisted it to the side and pushed it upwards, revealing the ground above.

"Wow Shanks! You made a door appear through the ground!" Luffy said, eyes twinkling with amazement.

Shanks signed, and was about to explain that the door was there the whole time, when they heard another loud explosion.

**BOOOMMMMM! **The sound was louder then the first time. They must have been close. Luffy, still holding Shanks' hand, began to sprint. "Rully," Shanks said, putting down his heal and squeezing the hand he was holding to keep the other from continuing forward. "There's a problem."

"Eh?

"You're going the wrong way. The sound came from a different direction."

"Oh…" Luffy turned around and ran back the way he came, quickly passing by the area they emerged from only a few seconds ago.

"Rully." Shanks stopped them again.

"Eh?"

"You're still running the wrong direction."

Luffy huffed while putting his free hand on his hip, "I ran forward and you said that wasn't right. So now we're running the other way and it's still wrong?"

"Don't go making it look like I'm the one who doesn't make sense." Shanks sweatdropped. "When the explosion sounded it didn't come from in front or in back. It came from the left."

"Yosh!" Luffy stated to run.

Shanks stopped him again. "That the right, not the left."

"You're too picky." Luffy retorted, pouting, this time turning and running in the right direction.

There was another explosion. **BOOOOMMM!!!!** By the way it had gotten louder it was sure they were heading the right way.

Within a minute they arrived at the source of the noises. From the moonlight Shanks and Luffy could make out, from afar, a girl squatting in the middle of a clearing. It seemed as if she was lighting something. The flicker of light they saw her holding went out as she started to run away from the area she had been at. A second later it gave off a bright light and the explosion sounded. **BOOOOOMM!!!!**

The girl ran back to the area and pulled something out of her pocket, squatting down and proceeding to light it. Shanks, with his pirate-like skill, in a flash had crossed the area between her and where he was previously standing. He gently grabbed her wrist before she could put the lighter to the object. "May I ask what your doing, Miss? Because that seems to be dynamite you're holding."

Her head snapped up, and for a moment she looked at him in shock. The girl stood up and Shanks knew he'd seen her somewhere before. She was pretty. Her height was about that of Luffy's, as she only came up to about Shanks' shoulder. She had mud-brown eyes, brown hair, and big curls that went down to the middle of her back. She wore a frilly, pink skirt and the same color shirt with the word 'ANGEL' printed across it. _'Where have I seen her before?' _Shanks wondered.

Luffy came over and looked between the two, tilting his head and wondering why they were staring at each other. The girl broke the silence, "Oh my savior!" She leaped at Shanks and threw her arms around his neck.

---------------


	5. Running Into Trouble

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, or the name Doctor Dracula.

Being a Girl

Chapter 5: Running Into Trouble

-------------

"Oh my savior!" The girl who had been setting off bombs only a moment ago leaped at Shanks and threw her arms around his neck.

"I-It's not what you think, Rully! I don't even know her!" Shanks franticly, though carefully, tired to get the girl off. He hoped Rully didn't think he was with someone else.

"Shishishi, it's like she's glued to you, Shanks." Luffy was completely unaware of the older man's nervousness.

Shanks sighed, _'I wonder if Rully is even capable of negative thoughts.'_ He was happy, though, that Luffy didn't think he was cheating. _'I'm acting like we're married or something.' _Shanks put his head in his hand, managing to do this even with the other girl clinging to him. _'But since we kissed we're more than friends.' _Shanks grinned, remembering the moment. After chuckling with the utmost happiness he noticed that the other two were staring at him.

Luffy and the other girl looked at Shanks as he went through a series of different emotions, completely in his own world.

"Er…" Shanks tried to say something, but couldn't find the words.

"I-" The girl hanging off Shanks' neck started to say, but was interrupted by evil laughter.

"Mwahahaha!" A figure appeared out of nowhere and stood a few feet away from the group. From the moonlight Shanks and Luffy saw that he was a boney, tall guy. He was wearing a black, skintight, jumpsuit with green lines running down the sides. His choice of clothing exaggerated his crooked, way-to skinny physique. He had a black, curly mustache, pointy nose, and a hair style that went up in circles above his hair.

While the girl tightened her grip around Shanks, Luffy pointed and laughed. "Old man, your hair looks like a spring."

The old man's jaw dropped, "My hair is not a spring, and I'm only 49! Do you know who you're talking to, brat? I'm… well, I'll let Tanya do the introducing." He looked at the girl who seemed to be clutching onto Shanks for dear life.

Shanks' eyes widened slightly as he recognized her name.

"H-He's D-Doctor Dracula!" She exclaimed with her head squeezing in to Shanks' shoulder, as if trying to hide from the sinister man.

"Damn right! And do you know what I am a doctor of?" He asked no one in particular, "I am a doctor of bombs!" Suddenly an explosion went off to the left of the group. As all eyes turned toward the noise Doctor Dracula ran up and grabbed Luffy in a headlock. "Don't move" The doctor took out a gun with his free hand and pointed it at Luffy's head, "Or she gets it!"

No one moved. _'Damn it,'_ thought Shanks, _'With this girl around my neck I won't be able to get to Rully before he pulls the trigger.'_

"Why don't you just shoot?" Luffy grinned, and Shanks could have sworn he'd seen that smile on someone else a long time ago.

Suddenly the girl released her hold on Shanks' neck, "Don't! Please don't Doctor Dracula! She doesn't know what she's saying. I did what you told me; I set off the bombs! So please, don't kill anyone."

Luffy titled his head slightly in the headlock, "So you had her bombing the place. Why?"

"YOU HAVE A GUN TO YOUR HEAD! DON'T ACT SO CALM!" All three yelled.

Luffy expected to be hit over the head, but instead Doctor Dracula began to talk, "Why, you ask? Because I love seeing bombs explode! I like seeing people set of bombs. Especially scared little girls." He looked at Shanks, "Now, if you'd lay down your sword, I _might_ spare this girl."

Shanks looked at the sheathed sword hanging loosely from the belt on his hip. _'Best to do what he says.' _He removed the sword from it's cover and laid it carefully on the ground in front of him_. 'If anything happens, it will only take me a second to pick it up and cut Dracula in half.'_

"Now back away slowly, and Tanya come here." The doctor smirked as they did what he said.

"And now," he pulled a bomb out and threw it between him and Shanks, "To make my escape!" The area was covered in smoke as Dracula grabbed Tanya's arm and prepared to run off with the two girls in his grip.

'_Shit!' _Shanks ran for where he laid his sword down. He quickly picked it up and made a swift upwards motion with the weapon. It made the air rise, taking the smoke with it, and clearing the area enough to see.

At exactly at the same spot where Doctor Dracula had thrown the smoke bomb, he now laid flat on his back, jaw dropped, few teeth knocked out, and an indent in his cheek. Tanya had fallen to her knees a foot away, hands covering her opened mouth, while Luffy was standing over the man with a clenched fist.

Shanks walked over to the group and lightly poked Dracula with the edge of his sword. The man didn't move. Seeing that the danger was gone Shanks sheathed his sword, "I'm guessing you punched him, Rully?"

"Yeah," The boy grinned, "He's not so tough."

Shanks laughed, "Nice job; he's out cold." He placed his hand affectionately on the boy's head.

"Thanks," Luffy replied.

'_That must have been some punch.' _Shanks glanced at the still-shocked girl on her knees, "Are you ok?"

Tanya nodded.

Sighing, he looked at Luffy. He slowly moved his hand down so that he was cupping the other's cheek. "Sorry I wasn't more help."

"It's ok, I'm strong." Luffy smiled, closing his eyes and tilting his head happily into the hand.

Shanks leaned down and Luffy stood on his toes, their lips only a fraction apart.

"Hey! Don't go making out when someone else is present!" Tanya burst in.

Shanks and Luffy looked at each other. _'Just a little bit more closer…'_ But there was no hope as the girl stepped in between the two. "Do you know who I am?"

Shanks looked at her, eyebrow twitching. "Tanya Vendrown. Your name and picture was on posters the town's people were handing out. Apparently your parents are very worried, and you've been missing for a few days."

"Yes! That crazy Doctor Dracula kidnapped me, and had me setting off bombs every night for the last three days! I haven't slept at all. You would think people would hear, but this park is so big that the noise doesn't reach to the houses."

"What about the people in the park?" Shanks asked.

"Most people aren't in the park late at night because it's rumored to have holes that drop down to the pits of hell!"

"It's not that far down." Luffy said.

Tanya gave him a weird look, "Well," she turned to Shanks flipping her hair, "Since you recognized me by my _obvious_ good looks, I'll tell you that I'm 17, single and looking. Oh and, my parents are rich." She winked at him.

Luffy frowned. Shanks cocked an eyebrow, _'How old does she think _I_ am?'_

"Well anyway," Tanya ignored their reactions, "If you'd be a gentleman, which I'm sure you are, you'd escort me to my house? Oh! But I'm afraid I've been worn out and can't walk. So if you'd carry me?"

"Hm," Shanks thought, "Well, we can't leave you here. How about a piggy-back ride?" He grinned, bending down and motioning the girl to hop on. "Is it ok with you, Rully?" He looked up from his squatting position.

"Only if I get a turn too!" Luffy said.

Tanya, despite making a sour expression, carefully climbed on to Shanks' back. The man quickly stood up and hooked his arm around the girl's leg so she wouldn't fall off.

The girl smirked from against Shanks' back, wrapping her arms _slowly_ around his neck. "Your name is Rully, right?" She looked at Luffy, resting the side of her head on the back of Shanks' neck.

"Yeah," Luffy huffed a bit.

"That was a pretty amazing punch you delivered to Doctor Dracula back there."

"Thanks?" Luffy didn't get why she was being so nice while making moves on _his_ Shanks.

There was silence for a minute before Shanks spoke, "Er… Tanya, Rully, you don't by any chance know which way we're suppose to be going?"

-------------------


	6. Complicating Things

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

_'…'_ **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: One Piece and the name Doctor Dracula belong to their respected owners.

Being a Girl

Chapter 6: Complicating Things

-------------

"Er… Tanya, Rully, you don't by any chance know which way we're suppose to be going?" Shanks asked.

Tanya almost fell off Shanks' back, "We've been going in a random direction this whole time!?"

"Pretty much," Shanks answered.

"Hm, well I don't know where we are." Luffy laughed. It wasn't bothering him that they were lost.

"I prefer stores to parks, so I don't know the layout either." Tanya said, "There are maps you can take in front of every gate leading into the park, but obviously you didn't see them." She nuzzled her nose against Shanks' neck. "Funny though, because the mayor had just finished putting up big signs to draw attention to them, so that visitors didn't get lost."

------30 minutes later-------

"You must be really strong," Tanya said, breath sliding over Shanks' ear, "You've been carrying me for a while."

The only reaction to this was a deep frown from Luffy.

Things like that had been going on for the last twenty minutes, and Shanks had learned to ignore it. Though the younger boy was having a bit of trouble doing the same.

Tanya, arm wrapped around Shanks' neck, slowly stroked his shoulder. Her thin hand trailed to his neck, and she made imaginary circles on it with her thumb.

Luffy made a sort of growling noise. But Shanks had to laugh; it sounded more cute then frightening. "Doing worry Rully," he said, "You're the only one for me." Luffy grinned, cheeks turning light pink for a second.

Tanya smirked, _'That's what you say now…'_

Shanks turned his neck slightly to tell the girl on his back something. "Tanya-"

"Yes love?" She interrupted his sentence, leaning in so their faces were in closer proximity. Luffy looked at the girl, eyes narrowing. Tanya returned his look.

Shanks signed, _'Is she trying to pick a fight with Rully?'_

Suddenly, Tanya jumped off Shanks and stepped in front of Luffy. The boy put his hands up, ready to block any attack. The girl didn't attack though, she touched Luffy's shoulder and fingered the material of the shirt he wore. Tanya's eyes widened, _'This is…'_ "Rully.. Can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

"Um-" Luffy started to say, but didn't get to finish before Tanya grabbed his arm. She pulled him off the path, behind some tall bushes, and out of earshot. Shanks was left alone, waiting and hoping nothing happened to Luffy.

"You're not a girl, are you?" Tanya looked Luffy in the eyes.

"How'd you know?" Luffy blinked.

"YOU'RE REALLY NOT A GIRL!?" Tanya's mouth dropped. "I was just guessing. I had seen that shirt you're wearing in a store. It was guaranteed to make it look like someone had nice curves. Even boys."

Luffy laughed, "What a cool shirt!"

"It's not about the shirt!" She yelled, "It's about the fact that those are fake!" She grabbed his boob and shook it. She could move it up his shoulders and down to his stomach. "Do you have any respect for real females?"

"He probably does," An orange haired girl stepped out from behind a short bush, "I'm the one who made him dress up like a girl."

"Who are you?" Tanya stepped back, letting go of Luffy's fake bust.

"Hi Nami! How'd you get here?" Luffy grinned.

Nami cocked an eyebrow, "I've been following you for the last ten minutes. When you didn't come back to the ship I thought you might be lost in the park… or… doing something else."

"Something else?" Luffy said tilting his head.

Both girls looked at Luffy as if he were dumber then a spoon. Tanya then turned to Nami, "Are you a guy too?"

"Nami's a guy?" Luffy said amazed, "No wonder she can hit so hard."

"I'M NOT A GUY!" She slammed her fist over Luffy's head.

The poor boy was on the ground in a heart beat, eyes spinning.

"Wow," Tanya said, "You do hit hard."

"There's no other way to keep guys in line." Nami huffed.

Luffy got up, hands gently feeling the bump on his head. "Ow!"

-----On the pathway-----

Shanks stood wondering what the two were talking about when he noticed something. The person who he had realized was following them was no longer there! Shanks ran to the place Rully and Tanya were, hoping the stranger didn't go to attack them while they were alone. He burst in to where the group was standing "Rully! Tanya! Are you ok?"

Nami just barely had enough time to adjust Luffy's crooked chest before Shanks saw him.

"Hi Shanks!" Luffy turned to smile at the man.

"We're fine." Tanya said_. 'So Rully's fooling Shanks too. How horrible. The guy thinks he likes a girl, but it's really another guy!'_ "But you need to know something... Rully's actually a b-" Tanya began to say before Nami grabbed her neck and started to strangle her.

"Don't you dare." Nami managed to whisper before she was pried off by Shanks.

"Who are you?" The red-haired man looked down at the girl.

Luffy grinned proudly, "That's my navigator, Nami!"

"A navigator of a ship? You sail, Rully?" asked a curious Shanks.

Not liking where this was going, Nami intervened, "-Are you guys lost?"

"Yes," The three said in unison.

"I know the way. We're actually not too far from the exit." The orange haired girl motioned them to follow her.

----6 minutes later-----

They had walked in silence, amazed at how Nami could navigate through the pathways and trees until they reached the exit.

The group stepped onto the sidewalk surrounding the park. It was the middle of the night and the area was deserted.

"Oh!" Tanya said clapping her hands together, "I know where we are! Around that corner," She pointed ahead of her, "and a block down is my dad's place."

"But that's where the Marine base is." Nami said.

"My daddy's the Marine Captain."

Shanks, Luffy, and Nami stiffened. _'No Way!'_ Little beads of sweat could practically be seen falling from them. "Lets not go there!"

"Well, I can see why _you_ wouldn't want to," She pointed to Shanks, "Don't think I didn't recognize you. You're a pirate." She smiled, "But I won't tell my dad if you let me walk around on your ship."

Shanks looked at Rully and Nami; they didn't seem surprised that he was a pirate. _'Maybe they recognized too?' _Shanks signed, "Alright, it's close by."

They happily turned their backs to the base and walked toward the pirate ship. A few seconds after Shanks asked, "If your dad's a Marine Captain, why didn't he have the Marines looking for you? For someone of that rank they would use more then fliers to find a missing kid."

Tanya was silent for a moment, wondering if she should tell them or not. "I… I ran away." She swallowed, "I ran away at night, and while I was wondering the dark streets Doctor Dracula sneaked up from behind and kidnapped me. Dad must have thought I was just hiding out all these days. The way he is, he'd just wait for me to come back on my own. The posters must have been because of Mom…"

Nami looked confused, "Doctor Dracula?"

Luffy laughed, "This weird old man with a spring head. I knocked him out!"

"Okay…" Nami was use to Luffy logic.

---------14 minutes later-------

Not too long after, they reached the ship.

Luffy looked up at it. It was strange seeing something that was the same as it had been all those years ago. The figurehead seemed to look down at him, its aura was still that of the pirates who call it home. Strong, yet friendly. Just like Shanks. If Luffy had never seen this ship before, he would still know it belonged to that man.

----------


	7. Revealing the Truth

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

_'…'_ **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Being a Girl

Chapter 7: Revealing the Truth

-------------

"This ship is pretty big." Tanya walked across the deck.

"There must be lots of treasure." Nami smiled evilly, her eyes turning into belli symbols.

Shanks looked at Luffy, thinking she would be the most ecstatic about being on a ship. Instead the other seemed to be in a sort of daze.

Luffy looked left and right. He had never thought he would be back on this ship so soon. Especially in these circumstances.

"Rully?" Shanks' concerned voice snapped Luffy from one of his rarely-occurring thoughtful moments.

"Shanks." Luffy grinned. "This is such a cool ship!" He bounced around, back to his old self. You could never keep the boy quite and thinking for long.

"Are you intruders?" A voice shouted from above.

"Nah, Jack, it's me." Shanks called back.

"Captain!" said Jack as he climbed quickly down from the mast. His boots made a light _thump_ as he landed on the deck. "We had all thought you wouldn't come back until morning, because you would be doing oo-la-la!"

Shanks sweatdropped, Tanya giggled, Nami smirked, and Luffy was absolutely clueless.

"WELCOME BACK CAPTAIN!" A hoard of noisy men burst through the nearest door. "Looks like you didn't get any, huh? Though I guess that's ok since it didn't seem to be what you were looking for!" The men were obviously drunk; it took them a full minute to register that three pretty girls were in their company.

"OOOhhhHHH." They said in their drunken bliss. "Captain really knows how to get the girls!"

Shanks covered his face with his hand, _'Why must the ones who talk about this sort of thing anyways be so loud?'_ Shanks pushed the noisy group, which was really only the seven younger boys, back into the cabin. "Just… go to sleep."

The more mature drunks treated the ladies kindly. Among them, Luffy recognized immediately, were Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky.

'_Ben would probably be the most helpful.'_ Luffy thought. Luckily for him, the two girls and Shanks were distracted by the crew members, and Ben had wandered away from the group to lean over the railing. Luffy walked over to him, firmly deciding that he was definitely going to ask. "Ben."

The man turned around to face the boy, surprised that he new his name.

"Do you recognize me?" asked Luffy.

The man tried to remember if he ever even met anyone as pretty as the person standing in front of him. "Sorry, no."

"I'm Luffy."

Ben almost swallowed the cigarette that was hanging from his mouth. _'It doesn't seem like she (he?) is lying' _"Y-You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"You look like a girl."

"Nami," He pointed to the orange-haired girl in the crowed, "Had me dress up as a girl. I don't remember why but… I ran into Shanks and…" Luffy wondered if he should finish. He had been having the same thoughts for a while now. The boy may seem none-to-bright on the outside, but he knew the moment he kissed Shanks, that he liked him more than a friend. And now Luffy worried that Shanks wouldn't return his feelings if he told him who he really was. "I-I like Shanks. Do you think he likes me?" He asked in a serious, yet cute, voice.

Ben stared, trying to absorb all the information. This beautiful girl was actually a boy, Luffy, and he liked Shanks!? _'Where'd all this come from?' _Ben, being one of the most calm and clever people on the ship, collected his cool. "Well, I have an idea which might help you find out…" Ben wrapped his arm around Luffy's waist and pulled the boy more toward himself. Their chests pressed together. With his other hand he caught Luffy's chin and tilted it up so that they were looking eye to eye. Ben was the first mate, so he knew his captain all to well. If it was any normal girl, Shanks would grow imaginary cat and tail ears, then proceed to hiss and scratch at him; lightening the situation with a little bit of humor.

That is not what happened. Only a second after Ben had grabbed Luffy was he roughly shoved away by Shanks. "What are you doing?" The red-haired man didn't give him time to answer; he grabbed Luffy's hand and stomped away.

The first mate was surprised by his captain's actions, but knew he'd be forgiven… probably.

"Ah!" Luffy looked at the man who was leading him away by the hand, "Shanks, Ben still needs to answer my question!"

"And what question would that be?" Shanks turned to face Luffy when they reached the front of the ship. No one else was around.

"Uh.. Well…" The boy tired to figure out what to say.

Shanks loomed over Luffy. "What did you ask him?" He could only imagine what someone could ask that would have Ben doing… _that._

"I…" Luffy decided to go with the truth, "asked him if you really liked me."

"Huh?" It took Shanks a moment to make the connection. _'So that's why Ben acted like that.'_ He let out a small, relieved chuckle. He'd have to apologize for pushing him later, but right now, someone else came first. "Rully," He put his hand on Luffy's shoulder. Their eyes locked together for a second before Shanks leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Luffy's forehead, where his hair had parted slightly.

Luffy blushed. It felt strange having Shanks' lips on his skin. It made him shiver as he tilted his head up and replaced his forehead with eager lips. He really liked kissing Shanks.

After a moment, the older man moved away slightly, but kept close enough so that Luffy could feel the other's breath on his lips when he spoke. "I'm sorry if I seemed jealous or angry." Shanks laughed a little, causing puffs of air to roll across Luffy's lips, and making the boy want to lean in and close his eyes.

Luffy giggled, Shanks had made everything better! At that moment, in the boy's eyes, he was the best thing in the world.

A few yards away and around the corner Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky watched the display of affection.

"Captain is head over heals in love!" Lucky cheered and took a bite from the rack of meat he was holding.

"And you say that's Luffy?" Yasopp raised an eyebrow.

Ben nodded, "It's probably best that you know, but don't tell anyone else."

"Does captain know?" asked Yasopp while Lucky chewed away at his food.

"I don't think so."

"How do you think he'd react?" They had never seen Shanks in a situation like this one.

"I'm not sure, but no one can stay calm if they find out a girl they like is actually a boy."

'_He'll realize sooner or later…'_ They thought in unison.

-------30 minutes later-------

"I'm going home." Nami said while leaping over the railing and disappearing into the night.

"You should check your treasure." Luffy told the blinking crew members, who were wondering why the girl left so suddenly.

-------1 minute later--------

Luffy laughed, "Shishishi, Nami even stole from you!"

The men who were suppose to be guarding the treasure room sat depressed in the corner. "We got tricked by a teenage girl!" They moaned.

Shanks shook his head, "That's pretty pathetic."

"You let her get away too, captain!"

Everyone laughed, not noticing the shadowy figure that sneaking over with cat-like grace.

A rope quickly wrapped around Luffy before squeezing tight. The boy let out a squeak as his arms slapped to his sides and the rope dug into his skin. "Ow! That hurts, _Tanya_."

Tanya's shadowy face appeared behind Luffy as she held the rope. "I have to do this." With her free hand she revealed the kitchen knife that she had hidden behind her back.

Everyone's eyes widened. They would have thought she was joking if it wasn't for the serious look in her eyes.

"Let her go." Shanks said warningly, careful not to make any fast movements. That knife was too close to Luffy's neck.

"Aren't you mad or scared, _Rully_?" She stepped around the boy so that they were face to face. _'He's awfully calm for someone in this kind of position.'_

"Is…" Luffy tilted his head, "This a new game?"

"NO!" They all shouted, and Shanks would have laughed if it weren't for the situation.

The seriousness in the air was back as Tanya raised the knife above her head, "Enough!"

Shanks and the quicker thinking pirates rushed forward, but were to late. Tanya quickly swung her arm down, aiming for the center of Luffy's body.

A loud ripping noise was heard, and the frantic pirates stopped a foot away to stare in shock at Luffy's chest. He was unharmed as Tanya backed away. The girl had sliced the rope and middle of his shirt in half, leaving a bear chest exposed. Everyone took a step back when they realized there were no girl parts underneath. Instead was a lanky form with tight abs and no bust.

----------

**Author's Note: **Yosh! I've decided, because of a nice reviewer, that this fic will be twenty chapters long. :D But I promise it won't seem like it drags on. You'll (hopefully) love every part.


	8. Breaking Up

**WARNINGS: Cross-Dressing, YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Author's Note: Wow, my record of most reviews for one chapter doubled in Stage 7! Thank you to each and everyone of you! Your comments and support is greatly appreciated. :)

Hahaha, Loreto W perfectly guessed what would happen later in the story. :D (And you all somehow knew Luffy was going to get rejected. -.-;) I can't have my plot guessable though! I'll have to give it something unexpected… like killing Luffy off... Or better yet: Having Shanks kill Luffy!

Being a Girl

Chapter 8: Breaking Up

-------------

Everyone stared at Luffy, not knowing what to say. Luffy looked at Shanks. After a painfully long silence the red-haired man spoke. "So.. You're a guy?"

"Yeah."

"And you decided not to tell me?" His voice was hard, "How long were you planning on lying to me?" The man felt betrayed. All this time, he had really been having feelings for another guy!

"Shanks…" with distress in his voice Luffy stepped forward, "I liked how you were treating me, and I thought that if I told you who I really was, it wouldn't be the same. Because, I've met you before… a long time ago."

"Who are you?" Shanks moved so that they were face to face.

Both of them were the type of people who didn't turn and run from their problems, but face them head on. And so they did, staring each other down.

As Luffy looked the older man in the eyes, unwavering, he decided to be completely honest. This, Luffy would think later that day, might have been his mistake. "I'm…" The boy used one had to push off his blond wig as the other wiped the cover-up from under his eye. "Luffy." He took his straw hat from his bag and placed it on his head with a fluent motion.

Shanks stared dumbfounded. That black hair, that scar, and that all-to-familiar hat. "Luffy…" He said the boy's name, and it stung at his tongue. Looking at the person he had kissed and cheek he had caressed, and seeing in the light of truth, who it belonged to. That little kid from the far-away island. The one who had looked up to him, and wailed in his arms. That Luffy. "I…" Shanks said, "Can't love you."

The straw hat hid Luffy's expression, but underneath the man's words stabbed at his heart. With stinging eyes and a low voice he said, "I still love you."

Shanks frowned, though he wondered if he should take back his words. _'No, I can't love this little kid, this _boy_… But even though he tricked me, I don't feel mad. She-He's someone to stick up for, but nothing more.'_

Luffy looked into the older man's eyes, seeing the sternness of the man's words reflected there. Luffy turned away from him and slowly, stiffly, walked toward the ship's railing. When he reached it he spun around. "Shanks… I'm still going to keep my promise to you."

"?"

"I'll come back again when I'm pirate king, and give back your hat."

Shanks gave a small smiled and nodded in agreement; this was it, their goodbye.

Luffy put his hand on the railing and swung his legs over the side. For a second Shanks was worried that he fell into the water, but then remember that the ship was facing the dock on that side. The man let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and looked at the spot Luffy had stood in only moments before. Taking another breath, he noticed his crew had taken on the role of audience. None of them had thought their captain could be involved in such drama. "Oi, guys, stop gaping."

Those words seemed to break the silence. They all rushed to him, talking loudly.

"You shouldn't have let him go, captain!" Lucky's voice was heard above the rest.

Shanks stared, "You already knew it was Luffy."

"Uh…"

"Captain, you should go after him." Ben stepped in.

"And why it that?!" Shanks uncharacteristically snapped at his first mate. "We parted on good terms."

"You really like him though."

"NO I DON'T!" Shanks shouted while stomping into his cabin, slamming and locking the door behind him.

"Captain!" Some of his crew members called as they crowded around the door.

Tanya looked on calmly, standing well away from the group. She sighed, "Aw, there wasn't even any crying. But, I guess it's just how those two are." She put her hand on her cheek. "I'm right again…. All men are the same." She smiled sadly to herself, remembering her not-really-that-sad past.

_-Flashback_

"_Tanya, you must understand that you're just not cute enough."_

"_But…" Tanya said, tears flowing from her eyes, "I love you! You told me last night that you loved me too!"_

"_I don't." The man turned away cold heartedly._

_The next day Tanya had seen a couple walking hand-in-hand. She sneered at their happiness, doing everything she could to steal the guy away. After only two days she succeeded. Of course she'd dumped the guy right away, and laughed at the other girl's tears. It made her feel better, knowing that she wasn't the only one to lose her love because she wasn't attractive enough. Tanya bitterly thought that looks was all that guys looked for. Time and time again did she prove her theory correct._

_-End Flashback_

When Tanya had found out Luffy was a girl, she devised a plan to make Shanks find out. It was easy finding the knife in the ship's kitchen, and the rope lying around. When she had revealed the boy's secret she didn't even have to wonder how the other man would react. Since men only liked girls for their looks, when he found out that it was a boy, the man would surly loose interest. She was right.

Tanya smiled to herself, not noticing Lucky walking up to her.

"There's no place here for a girl to sleep." The chubby man took bite from the rack of meat in his hand, chewing slowly. "It's late. If you want I'll take you home."

Tanya smiled evilly, _'I know what I could do…_' "Are you sure? You're not mad at me for making your captain upset?" She said in her most innocent voice.

----------45 minutes later, on the Straw Hat Pirate Ship------------

"Luffy… are you sure you're ok?" Nami walked over to her captain who was sitting on the figurehead, eyes still shaded by his hat. "It doesn't have anything to do with me stealing a bit of Shanks' treasure, does it? I only took a little!"

Luffy laughed half heartedly, "No, it doesn't." Their was silence while Nami carefully studied her usually cheerful captain. "Has the log pose set?" The boy asked.

"Oh yeah, it did an hour ago. About when I got back to the ship."

Luffy turned in his seat, lifting his head and revealing a happy expression. "Everyone! Lets go to the next island!"

"Aye!" The straw hat crew had been standing around on deck thinking Luffy must have caught some horrible virus, to be acting this way. They were happy to see that their captain was somewhat back to normal. He was excited to get to the next island, though not grinning as wide as usual.

Zoro pulled up the anchor, and the sails filled with wind as Nami gave Chopped steering directions. They all knew, or at least hoped, that Luffy would soon be back to normal.

-------17 minutes later-------

Nami walked on deck, taking in the fresh night air. As she stretched her arms, she caught a glimpse of something to her right. Walking over to the corner and picking up the object, the girl examined it carefully. Her eyes widened.

Briskly she walked to the front of the ship. Just as she hoped, Luffy was sitting on the figurehead. "Shanks found out, didn't he?" Her captain turned around as she held up the ripped shirt he had tossed in the corner earlier. She could imagine how Shanks must have reacted if it had Luffy leaving the island in the middle of the night. She felt horrible, since it was her idea to have the boy crossdress. "When… When Robin left us, you chased after her. Shanks might have said he didn't like you anymore, but you should have chased after him, too!" She grabbed his shoulders, "It's not like you to run away! It's so obvious that you two love each other!"

"Nami…" He blinked at the girls sudden burst of emotion, "It's not that I've given up on Shanks. The reason he rejected me is because he still sees me as a kid." He took a breath, continuing, "I'll become pirate king to prove to him that I can be strong! I'll come back to him again, and when I do maybe he'll see that I've grown up… maybe then he'll like me."

Nami silently looked at Luffy. She smiled, her captain may seem thick on the outside, but he's really been thinking about this the entire time. He's found his solution, and even if it's not going to give a quick result like usual, he won't give up.

-------On the Red-Haired Pirate Ship---------

"Captain," Ben said as a sullen-looking Shanks walked out of the cabin. "As pirates, we've done worse things than falling in love with people we shouldn't have."

"Hn." Shanks continued walking, Ben coming up beside him.

"Even if he's a kid, and it's not accepted by most people, it shouldn't matter."

"Why Ben, do you think I actually love him?!" He grabbed the man's shirt with his hand. The only thing he thought surely, was that he couldn't love Luffy. But his first mate, who knew him the best, was telling him otherwise.

"By the way you acted."

Shanks stormed back into his cabin, riled up, and for some reason, angry.

---------

**Author's Note: **Not to bad, right? It was hard deciding on how Shanks would react.

Also, I updates my profile so that it shows what the next posted stories will be.

**In the next chapter: **Luffy has left the island! Will Shanks ever be able to see him again? Will it be years later, after Luffy has found One Piece? Find out in the tragic Chapter 9!


	9. A New Love

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, Zoro X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update. My goal was to get a new chapter up ever week, but that just didn't happen with this one. -.-;

Being a Girl

Chapter 9: A New Love

-------------

-----2 hours after Lucky left the ship with Tanya---On the Red-Haired Pirate Ship------

"Do you know where Lucky is?" Yasopp asked a crew member.

"No… but I saw him leaving with that one brown-haired girl." replied the man.

"When?"

"A few hours ago. Do you think he's ok?"

"Of course." Just as Yasopp said that a creaking sound was heard from the ship's ladder. Lucky climbed over, followed by a girl with black cloth draped over her shoulders.

"Hey Lucky!" Yasopp said waving him over. "Where have you been?"

"Well…" He said slowly, "Hm… We need Ben also… There's this island not too far from here…"

-----30 minutes later-----

"I see," said Ben. Him, Yasopp, Lucky, and a certain girl were crowded inside a dark cabin. The light from the candle on the small table they were circled around played shadows across their faces as they talked.

"I never would have guessed that you would have that type of status." Yasopp looked at the girl, wondering if she was lying.

"And I never thought I would be in this type of situation. Why must we be in a storage closet?" She answered back, annoyed.

"It adds to the mood." Ben's smile, shadowed in certain places, looked ominous. The darkness around him and deep hollows under his eyes gave him a sinister expression. "Now let's go talk to captain."

------15 minutes later------

Shanks stood on deck, map in hand, "You want to go to this island?"

"Yes," His three crew members said in unison.

"Why is it called _Love Reborn_?" He frowned.

"Just a superstition the locals have." The mysterious girl standing next to Yasopp said, hands clasped behind her back.

"And why is a young lady such as yourself coming?" He asked her with a smile.

Silence followed before Ben hurriedly said, "She, um, needs a ride."

Shanks raised an eyebrow. "…Something's up."

The three tensed. "Hehe..."

Shanks sighed, "Alright, lets go." He called to some of his crew to prepare for sailing before turning back to the group, "It's the middle of the night, so lets get some rest. If this map is accurate we'll get to the island sometime tomorrow evening. I'll leave it to you, Ben, to find quarters for the lady to sleep in." He gave them a half smile before walking into his cabin and closing the door.

"Is he usually like that?" The girl asked.

"No, he's just moping, now follow me," Ben started to walk off, "Lack of sleep dulls the senses." He waved goodnight to Yasopp and Lucky.

-----Later that night------

Shanks sat up in his bed and looked around tiredly. He had the whole cabin to himself, captain's privilege, though it wasn't very big. He wasn't one to show off his wealth and treasures. The room only consisted of a small bed, desk, chest, and a set of drawers. Shanks got up and moved to his desk, pulling the chair out and sitting down. He decided to work on a map, to get his mind off what he couldn't seem to stop thinking about. After a few minutes he sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. He couldn't stop thinking about Luffy. It was always nagging in the back on his mind that Luffy was waiting for him, and he should hurry to the boy. He constantly had to tell himself that Luffy was not in the park looking for him. Shanks sighed again, thinking he shouldn't have left the island in such a hurry. It almost felt like he was running away. The man ran a hand through his hair. He had to get over this, a relationship with a kid was not possible. But he still felt bad for dumping Luffy like he did, and now he wasn't sure if he should have. For once Shanks was unsure of himself and his decision.

-----Later---On the Straw Hat Pirate Ship ----

"SO COOOOLLL!" Luffy exclaimed as they neared the island.

"There are so many big buildings!" Chopper squealed in his cute voice.

"The Great Captain Usopp build these buildings!" Usopp puffed out his chest.

"Wow!" Luffy and Chopper said in unison, eye's twinkling in admiration.

"Yes! I was only ten years old…" Usopp went on with his tale.

Other than Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Zoro the rest of the crew left the deck to get ready. Zoro stood away from the group, arms crossed as he looked with narrowed eyes at the island they were approaching. After a while his gaze shifted to his captain, who was listening to the marksman's tall tale. He was still not as cheerful as usual.

"Swordsman-san." Robin had come out of her cabin and was standing beside Zoro, looking over the railing. "I've read about this island in a book."

Zoro frowned, "I know about it too. What does it matter?"

"You won't be able to hide your feelings from captain-san."

Zoro eyed her, scowling.

"It's best if you stick with him and not get lost."

Zoro's frown deepened. "You don't need to give me advice." He left the railing to go sleep against the mast.

-----20 minutes later----

It was a few minutes before they would reach the island, and Nami had called them all out to deck. "Listen everyone, this island is part of a chain of three islands. We came from one of them, but this one is a little different." She tossed them each a yellow cape with a large hood. "You have to wear this, and you can't show your face."

"Or what will happened?" Chopper squeaked.

"…Something very bad." Nami answered after thinking about whether she should tell the small reindeer.

"I-Is it always d-dark under the island?" Usopp said, voice shaking as he pointed to where they were sailing. The sun shone bright around it, but over the island a dark cloud hung. "It's almost pitch black!"

"Calm down Usopp, it's just a rainy island. It's actually very popular, many villages off the Grand Line tell stories about this place."

"Probably s-scary stories. I think I have I-can't-go-on-that-island virus!" Usopp said, knees shaking.

"I'm telling you, that's not it!" She hit him over the head.

"Then why wont you say more about it?" Chopper looked at her with big eyes, holding his yellow cape tightly.

"That's because…." Her cheeks turned a slight red. "Never mind!" She hit the poor animal over the head, "It doesn't matter!"

Chopper stopped asking questions after that.

"Why are these yellow?" Zoro glared, holding the cape disdainfully in one hand.

"Because yellow looks good on me, and they were on sale." She smiled.

Zoro's eyebrow twitched.

"Don't glare at Nami-swan!" Sanji kicked the swordsman in the head. "My sweet Nami-swan, I will wear anything for you!"

"Don't kick me Dartboard-Eyebrow!" Zoro unsheathed his swords and a fight broke out between the two

Robin chuckled slightly as she put the on the black cape and hood she bought earlier.

----10 minutes later----

When they reached their destination the crew quickly split up to explore, map the island, or buy things from the nearby town.

"Are you going to go explore, Luffy?" Zoro came up to his captain who was still on the ship, staring back out to sea.

"Yeah…" Luffy tried to smile, but he felt that if he took one step on the island, he'd have run away from Shanks. He felt that if he'd loose sight of the sea, he'd leave Shanks forever. Even though he promised he'd come back, it worried him.

Zoro looked at Luffy's sad expression. It was so unlike him, as if he'd gotten his heart broken. It probably wasn't the best time for Zoro to do what he had in mind, but if Luffy accepted it, then maybe he would be alright. Either way, because of this island he couldn't avoid it. He didn't want to avoid it. He'd kept it a tight secret for a long time. Only Robin with her watchful eyes noticed.

The swordsman took his captain's hand to get his attention.

"Zoro?" Luffy looked up at him.

"Luffy… I…" Zoro scowled, trying to find the words. "In my dojo, from when I was a kid, there were stories about this island."

"Cool!" Luffy snapped out of his sad thoughts and started to bounce up and down, "Then lets go check it out!"

Zoro sweatdropped as he put a hand on his captain's shoulder to keep him still. "The story was that this island, called _Love Reborn_, gives out a vibe which makes it so that… so that a person can't hide feelings of love from another person."

"Huh?"

Zoro glanced around, making sure Robin and Nami weren't there to blackmail him. "I…" He leaded down and whispered into his captain's ear, "I've loved you for a long time, Luffy."

The boy froze, wide-eyed.

Zoro moved his hand from Luffy's shoulder to his chin, lifting his head up a bit as he softly placed his lips on Luffy's in a tender kiss.

-----

**Author's Note**: Oooooo, I wonder how Luffy will react to Zoro's kiss? Looks like we'll have to wait tell the next chapter to find out! This chapter was more for explanation and getting them to the next island. All the good stuff will be in the next one! And sorry again for the lateness of this update.

Can anyone guess who the "mysterious girl" and what her "status" is?

**In the next chapter:** Zoro, Luffy, Shanks, a stranger, and whirlwinds of emotion. What will happen? Find out in the twist of Chapter 10!


	10. Chance Meeting, Again

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Author's Note: Wow, Chapter 10 already! Looks like a good half way mark. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. ;)

Being a Girl

Chapter 10: Chance Meeting, Again

-------------

It was almost dark as Shanks walked down the silent pathway. They had just landed on the island, _Love Reborn_, and usually he'd be in the local bar with his crew, drinking heavily, but he needed to clear his thoughts of a certain someone. "Luffy." He looked up at the dark sky, noting how it was only dark on the island, but not around it. The clouds above were heavy and black; sure signs that it would rain soon. Continuing to walk slowly along the curving path, he grew further and further away from the town. Along either side of him were huge trees. They were the thickness of his body and the height of a giant. It was also extremely muddy, even on the path. There were various puddles everywhere, and looking in front of him, this scenery seemed to go on and on. It stretched as far as Shanks could see, which really wasn't that far because the path curved and vision of it was blocked by the enormous trees. Shanks looked down and felt between his figures the cloak he was wearing. Apparently, if he took it off or revealed his face from the darkness of the hood, something bad would happen. The girl who 'needed a ride to the island' had said that different things could happen to people that took it off. When asked what kind of things, she blushed and said that she was uncomfortable talking about it. The material of the cloak, Shanks noted, would resist most of the rain. It would be ok if he got caught in some bad weather. Which was probably going happen, because he was planning on seeing were this strange path lead too. It didn't seem like it, but curiosity often got the best of him. He might have even taken off the cloak to see what would happen if not for the townspeople who had pleaded him, for his own sake, not too. When he asked them what would happen, they said it could be many things. One of them was death.

A raindrop fell on Shanks' uncovered hand, snapping him out of his thoughts. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and when he looked up he saw that he was only a few feet away from a certain couple.

It was two people who seemed only aware of each other, dressed in yellow cloaks with their hoods pushed back, faces uncovered, and kissing passionately. One had jet-black hair, one had seaweed-green hair. The younger one who, to Shanks' horror, he recognized.

"Luffy!"

The boy who had been leaning against a tree, arms wrapped around a certain swordsman's neck, quickly broke away from his deep kiss when he recognized his name and the voice of the one calling it.

"S-Shanks."

Eying the other man, Zoro moved himself closer to Luffy. With his body he pressed the boy securely against the tree.

Shanks looked at Luffy's surprised face, thankful his own expression was covered by his hood. "Luffy," he said the boy's name again, "Wh-What…?" Shanks couldn't find any words that sounded right. He had been the one who broke up with Luffy, so he shouldn't care whether the boy was with someone else. But he did, a lot.

"Shanks," Luffy hid his face under Zoro's shoulder, "I-I like someone else now." The young captain then lifted his head to look at Shanks with a cold expression. "I don't need you anymore."

Shanks just stood there. Something **must **have been wrong with Luffy. He had said the night before that he would still come back to give him his hat. Now he was saying he didn't need him. Something **must** have happened. Maybe it was that man standing between himself and Luffy? Shanks didn't want to think about it. Without a word he walked past the two lovers.

He stared at the ground passing below him as his steps grew faster and faster until he was practically running. Shanks never ran away from anything, but this was different. He couldn't do anything in this situation, because the fact was that Luffy moved on and he didn't. He had let Luffy go, and now someone else had taken him away. He had no place in Luffy's choice, so he just walked away from it all.

Shanks' heart pounded, _'Something as small as seeing him with someone else… really… hurts.' _He cursed himself. _'I'm so stupid! Luffy must have felt this way when I told him I didn't love him. …I really hurt him… And I can only understand once he told me the same thing.' _Shanks clenched his teeth, taking long strides forward. _'If only I could go back in time… to tell Luffy that I really do love him.' _ For once he messed up, badly. For once, he regretted his actions. All he felt now was weakness and heartbreak.

"Ouch!"

Shanks looked up to see he had run into someone. A person wearing a yellow cloak, who had fallen from the slight impact into a puddle.

"Sorry" Shanks said, stretching a hand out for the other to grab.

"Nah, it's ok," The stranger laughed as they took the hand and stood back up. "I wasn't really watching where I was going."

"Neither was I." From his voice and hands, Shanks could guess it was a skinny man in his early thirties. Around his age, but a tad shorter in height.

"What were you thinking about?"

Shanks looked at the man, _'What a friendly guy.' _"That love really isn't my thing."

"Wow, you too?!"

"Huh?"

"My friend told me he liked me, but I don't feel the same way."

'_This guy… He really is open person.' _Shanks' sweat dropped, _'To tell a stranger that a guy hit on him… He kind of reminds me of Luffy.' _Really, after what just happened, he shouldn't want to talk with anyone. This guy just gave him a strange feeling. He didn't like the fact he reminded him of Luffy, but his pirate instincts were telling him something, he just couldn't understand what. "At least," Shanks said casually, "You have someone."

"…" The man was silent for a second before he asked, "Want to walk with me?"

"…Sure," Shanks wondered why he was agreeing.

"Yosh!" The stranger started to walk the way Shanks had come from.

"Lets go the other way." He didn't want to see Luffy kissing that other man again.

"Eh? No way!"

"Why not?" questioned Shanks.

The stranger looked at the ground, "That's the direction my friend is… the one who said he liked me… I don't think I can go back there right after leaving."

Shanks looked at him, "Well, I'm in a similar boat."

"Eh? Someone said they liked you?" The man grinned, his white teeth clearly visible from under his hood.

"No… More like I got dumped." Shanks really didn't get why he would say this to a stranger. Sure, he was also a friendly person, but not one to tell his more darker feelings to someone he just met.

"What happened?" The voice was serious and honesty caring.

Shanks blinked, _'His personality changes like the wind.' _And for some reason that struck a nerve in Shanks. Perhaps, because as they kept talking he reminded Shanks more and more of Luffy. The boy who he loved, but would never again have a chance with. "If you want to know so badly, I…" Shanks suddenly let out all of his pent up frustration, "I TOLD SOMEONE I LOVE THAT I DIDN'T LOVE HIM, AND NOW THAT HE'S WITH SOMEONE ELSE I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T GO ON WITHOUT HIM!"

Instead of being surprised the stranger stepped forward and shouted back, "THEM MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL HIM THAT!" His voice lowered, "Your lucky, you can still do something... I can't do anything… a person I don't love says they love me, and the person I love turned me down!"

"Then maybe…" Shanks hated himself for being so angry all the time, but with all these emotions dying to get out, he couldn't stay his usual, relaxed self. "THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD GO BACK TO THEM AND TALK ABOUT IT!"

"THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT!" The two were almost at each others throats, teeth clenched and heads mentally clashing.

"WELL IT'S THE SAME WITH ME!"

Suddenly a roar of thunder was heard and it began to rain.

"NO IT'S NOT!" The man shouted, "I DON'T GET WHY YOU'D TELL SOMEONE YOU LOVE THAT YOU DON'T LOVE THEM, BUT YOU CAN STILL SAY YOU DO!"

"...No I can't. Now they've found someone else… And what about you!? Why don't YOU go back to that person who said they didn't like you?!"

"Because… HE DOESN'T!"

"THEN MAKE HIM!"

"I CAN'T!" The man fisted the front of Shanks' shirt, and Shanks grabbed the man's extended arm with his only hand. To Shanks' surprise, the man was stronger than he looked. A rough shove and they ended up flying backwards and skidding across on their shoulders.

The two men wrestled, rolling off the sidewalk and into the mud.

'_That's… strange…' _Shanks briefly thought, but brushed it away as the other man pinned him to the ground, looking ready to strangle him.

Their was no way Shanks could loose, but the thought that he may get a black eye wasn't pleasing. So he pulled down roughly on the man's arm, causing him to loose his balance and fall forward. Their foreheads banged together and they glared at each other, noses only inches apart.

It started to pour as lightning struck and the wind blew. A powerful gust almost knocked the top man over, but instead both men's cloaks blew out and their hoods flew back. A long flash of lighting illuminated their faces, and each could see who the other really was. For what seemed like an eternity, they stared dumbstruck at each other. Raven hair and wide eyes looked at red hair and an equally shocked expression.

"S-Shanks?" The top man said in a quiet voice.

"Luffy!?" Shanks exclaimed. Out of all of his years of sailing, he'd never had something like this happen. As soon as the boy's hood blew off, he seemed to have shrunk and reversed back to his young age.

"Shanks--How?--What you said before…?" Luffy's head was spinning. "Why are you here?--When you were talking about someone you love was it…?" The poor boy couldn't get his thoughts straight.

"What about you?" Shanks said staring intensely at Luffy, who was still unconsciously pinning him to the muddy ground. "You were with that other man, so how could you have come from the other direction?"

"Other man? What are you talking about?"

Another flash of lightning lit up the dark sky as Shanks and Luffy froze before giving a quick shudder. All of a sudden it felt as if a light feather were being brushed against every part of their skin. Then, as if ghost hands were creeping into them.

"Mmmf!" In a impulse, both men closed their eyes and pushed their heads forward, lips smashing together. Shanks wrapped his arm around Luffy's back, pulling the boy down until his chest was resting on the older man's warm body. Luffy in turn tangled his figures into Shanks' fire-red hair. They sank deeper into the mud as the rain continued pouring down.

Neither cared that they were soaking wet and practically submerged in mud. All they could think about was each other. Shanks pushed vigorously against Luffy's lips. Each of them feeling an urge to completely drown themselves in the other.

A few feet away two groups of cloaked people had come over and now stood still as stone, mouths agape at the scene the two captains were making.

On one side; Nami, Zoro, Robin, and Sanji.

On the other side; Tanya, Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky.

"Their definitely possessed," said Tanya, "I thought I told Shanks not to take his hood off."

Ben smoked his cigar, calmly looking at the two, "I guess this works out. But is this what you didn't want to say, that happens when you reveal your face?"

"Kind of… There are usually two main outcomes."

"Whatever it may be, we should get them off each other." Ben mused as he watched the two start to take each other's shirts off.

"You can't!" The group looked on the other side of the two captains to see a yellow cloaked girl with a camera, "I haven't taken a good picture yet!" She huffed, "It's too dark."

The taller woman standing next to her clucked. To the left of her was a man silently smoking a cigarette. Next to him was a man with three swords who was making a strange gurgling noise as he wobbled back and forth at the sight of the two men making out. Poor sap couldn't handle it.

'_Luffy…'_ Zoro could barely look at his captain being held by the strange red-haired man, _'Is this who you were talking about?'_ Painfully, Zoro looked at that two, remembering how Luffy turned him down when he kissed him. _'He ran off the ship looking so hurt… but I guess this guy…'_

Everyone watched as Zoro snapped out of his shocked mode and walked over to the kissing men. He grabbed Luffy around the waist and hulled him off the other man, much to the two's displeasure. Luffy struggled to get out of Zoro's grip until the swordsman managed to pull Luffy's hood back on. As soon as the young boy's face was covered his eyes drooped and he fell fast asleep.

Shanks on the other hand was stopped from going after Luffy by Ben, who quickly pulled the possessed man's hood back on.

"Luffy?" Shanks rubbed his head, "What happened?"

Everyone blinked at Shanks as the question struck them, _'What exactly did happen?' _Everyone knew certain details, but not the whole story.

"Where to start..." Tanya wondered aloud as she scratched her cheek. She knew the most about the island, but also had a few questions to ask about how the two ended up back together.

Nami sighed as she put her camera away, upset that she didn't get a good picture, "How about we all first get out of the rain? Our ship isn't too far away from here."

--------

**Author's Note:** Gosh, that part where the two were shouting must have been the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I wanted Shanks and 'the stranger' to get into a fight, but however I wrote it, it seemed OOC for both Shanks and Luffy. -.-;

If you're nice you'll review and tell me how I did. :)

**In the next chapter: **All the blank parts of the story are pieced together by Shanks and the others while Luffy sleeps away. But how does the young captain react when he wakes up? Find out in the informative Chapter 11.


	11. Apologizing

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece: Oda does, and that's a good thing.

Author's Note: Sorry guys, I've been so busy. --What a lame excuse.-- Anyway, as an apology, there's fan art. I wrote how to get to it in the Author's Note at the end of this chapter.

Being a Girl

Chapter 11: Apologizing

Zoro was carrying Luffy as everyone started to walk toward the Straw Hat ship. They had only been walking for about five minutes, quietly talking amongst themselves after having exchanged names, when Shanks noticed something. He interrupted what Ben was saying to him with, "Where's Zoro and Luffy?" Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked around.

"Oh no…" Nami, Sanji and Robin said in unison.

"What?" Yasopp and Lucky answered back.

"Zoro must have gotten lost." Nami put her hand to her forehead.

"Moss head is directionally challenged; he even has trouble following a group," Sanji explained.

"It must have only happened a minute ago," Shanks said starting to run back the way they had come. He called over his shoulder, "You said your ship is at the end of the pathway, so it'll be easy to find after I get Luffy." Shanks quickly disappeared into the rain and darkness.

"Should we go too?" Nami wondered.

"There's no need," said Ben calmly, "Captain will find him first either way."

Yasopp and Lucky agreed, completely sure of their captain's ability.

"It's not like they're in any danger either way," Sanji mused, "Luffy's just sleep."

"It's best to let them sort it out," Robin finished the train of thought as they moved to continue walking towards the ship.

"So why is Luffy asleep?" asked Nami after a second of silence.

Tanya answered, "After a normal person is possessed they usually fall asleep for a day. It's amazing Shanks didn't pass out at all."

"Captain's not a normal person," Lucky stated.

Nami looked back into the darkness where her captain was, "Luffy will probably wakeup soon, too."

-- With Shanks --

Shanks cursed, the only minute he didn't keep an eye on Luffy had to be the minute the boy disappeared.

The pirate captain ran through the forest as he followed the muddy footprints in the ground. That's when he heard them.

"Let go, Zoro!" Shanks could almost see Luffy struggling in the other's grip.

"Calm down! Just give me a sec to put you down," Another voice said.

Shanks slowed down to a fast walk. As he neared them their voices grew louder.

"Where's Shanks? It was Shanks, right? His hood blew off and I saw him, but then… I can't remember what happened."

"I don't know where they are; I got lost from the group."

"Your always getting lost, Zoroooo," Luffy whined, "I'm going to go find Shanks!"

"Oi, wait, you'll just end up further from the ship! This is a big forest!"

But Shanks could already hear Luffy running. Luckily though, they boy was coming in his direction.

It was so dark that Luffy almost ran right past Shanks. The older man extended his arm and caught Luffy around the waist. He pulled his catch towards himself until Luffy's back was against his chest.

Shanks bent his head down and whispered, "It's me." A pair shocked eyes turned to look up at him, "And I'm sorry," Shanks finished.

He didn't get an answer because a moment later Zoro appeared in the darkness and almost ran into them, but managed to stop despite it being practically zero visibility. "Oh… Shanks." Zoro said; they had become acquainted before Zoro managed to get lost.

-- On the Straw Hat Pirate Ship --

After they got back to the ship and Nami hit Sanji to stop him from fawning over Tanya, they talked about Shanks and Luffy. Specifically their relationship, and about how a while ago they got possessed.

"So what exactly are the ghosts?" Sanji asked.

"The story is that a long time ago, when this island was still knew, there was a young couple in their early twenties," Nami began as Robin passed out towels for people to dry off with, "The girl, though, was very sick with something the doctors couldn't cure. One day she died, and the boy, not being able to live without her, killed himself. Now their spirits haunt this island. So when people come here, they cannot keep secret a love for another person."

"That sound too superstitions," said Yasopp dryly, not believing a word.

"Whether it's true or not doesn't matter, because there's another thing," Tanya butted in, "With the cloaks you have to wear. If you show your face while on this island, the ghosts can posses you and do anything they want to you, including killing you. Also, later they can use your face to make images of you elsewhere."

"Images?" It was Lucky's turn to ask.

Tanya nodded, "They look real and can talk, but if you touch them you pass right through them."

"That explains a lot," A voice said as the door to the room opened and a soaked Shanks, Luffy, and Zoro stepped inside. Much to everyone's delight, Shanks and Luffy were holding hands. "While I was walking around -it was before it started raining-..." Shanks said, "I saw Zoro and Luffy against a tree together with their hoods down."

"Eh?" Luffy said; him and Zoro shared a puzzled expression. "Me and Zoro didn't even get off the ship together. When I left the ship it was alone, and right afterwards I ran into you."

"Was your ship docked at the shore before you put your hoods on?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah?" Zoro and Luffy said.

"That's probably why. You were close enough for them to see, but not to reach." Tanya deduced.

Shanks thought for a minute and asked, "Can they also change someone's outward appearance when they're still cloaked?"

"What do you mean?" Tanya wasn't sure what the man was asking.

"After I saw the images of Luffy and Zoro, I walked passed them and ran into Luffy, who this time was cloaked. Even though I couldn't see his face I would have been able to realize it was him, but I couldn't because he looked different. He looked taller and older."

"Well I guess I'd be possible. I don't see why the spirits would do that though," Tanya said.

Shanks elaborated a little more, "When we were fighting, Luffy felt smaller than he looked."

"You two got in a fight?" exclaimed Nami .

"Yup!" Luffy said happily, "Shanks is strong!"

Shanks laughed, "You gave me a good fight, too."

Everyone was relived to see that they had easily gotten past whatever they fought about. It was just like those two.

"But Shanks," Luffy said, "To me you looked like you were smaller and about my height. It was really weird when I grabbed you because you felt bigger."

Shanks nodded squeezing Luffy's hand, "It was the same with me."

Robin spoke up, "I suppose the ghosts made it seem that way so you two wouldn't recognize each other, but for what reason?"

Shanks and Luffy blushed, remembering what they had argued about and how they spilled all their feeling to the other. Damn those ghosts.

The two didn't answer, but everyone could tell by their expressions that it was for a reason.

"I have a question," Tanya said, "How did you two end up with your hoods off?"

"Some wind," Luffy said grinning, "It blew them off!" The boy circled his free arm in a motion which he thought displayed the harsh winds very accurately.

"Hmm… And then... What happened after that?" asked Shanks, because no matter how hard he thought he couldn't remember what went on after seeing Luffy's face.

"We walked over," Yasopp said, "And you guys were, um…"

Shanks and Luffy looked around at the blushing faces.

"Do I want to know," Shanks said more as a statement than a question.

Lucky laughed and said what everyone saw, "You two were lying on the ground, soaked in mud, on top of each other, and kissing really passionately!"

"Eh!" Luffy pouted, "I wish I could remember that."

Everyone laughed as Shanks blushed intensely.

"Shanks? Did you catch a cold?" The clueless Luffy asked when he saw the other man's beet red face.

Everyone laughed harder.

"N-no Luffy, that's not it," Shanks mumbled.

"You're going to have a lot of fun with him, Shanks," Nami said, and all of Luffy's nakama shared the opinion.

--1 hour later --

Zoro leaned against the railing of the ship. He knew he had lost Luffy, but to a good man. Zoro sighed, excepting defeat.

"Oi, Marimo," Sanji came out on deck, "Stop sighing. Don't you know you shrink a little every time you do? Soon you'll be so small I'll be able to kick your ass in easily."

"Shut up," Zoro growled. But than again, a fight with the cook might make him feel better.

Sanji decided to ignore the other man's comment, "Tanya went into the town. She said she's going home and will be fine on her own. She wouldn't even let me go with her... Oh, and Shanks and his crew went back to their ship. Luffy wanted to go with them, but Shanks said he'd come back tomorrow. Apparently it's only a thirteen minute walk between our ships."

"Hn."

"I bet Luffy's going to sneak over there tonight." Sanji exhaled; his cigarette-smoke filled breath making a small fog in the damp night air.

Zoro concluded their conversation with "Probably already has," And he was right.

**Author's Note:** And that's all! This chapter was originally very long, but I had trouble getting it to make sense, so I scraped it and started all over again. (That's why the update is so late.) Anyway, as an apology, I have some ShanksXLuffy fan art drawn by me. If you go to my profile, the link is at the bottom. It'll be a link that says "ShanksXLuffy fan art."

And if you're nice you'll review.

**In the next chapter:** Luffy sneaks onto Shanks ship! Will he get caught? And what's up with Tanya? Is she planning something, again? Find out in Chapter 12.


	12. Taking the Next Step

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece, and he does an amazing job with it.

Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Oh and be warned, there's a small lime/almost-lemon in this chapter.

Being a Girl

Chapter 12: Taking the Next Step

--

--On the island Love Reborn--

"BWHAHAHAHA," Tanya laughed evilly, her eyes twinkling as she imagined her victory, "I will be promoted for sure, and every one will bow down to ME! Only ME!"

"You know," One Marine officer whispered to his fellow officer, "When I first met her, I thought she was a sweet, cute girl."

"Same here," The other whispered back as the two stood in attention waiting for an order, "Were we wrong."

"Definitely, but it works when she's trying to trick pirates. They'd never guess that she was actually 63 years old, or a Marine Captain."

"Or a bitch."

Tanya suddenly wiped around, "I HEARD THAT!" She spitted, "But I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you off this one time. Because today we are capturing one of the most feared pirates of the sea! Red-Haired Shanks!"

"But isn't he dangerously strong?" One of the other many Marines standing around questioned.

"FOOL!" Tanya screamed, "You think I don't have a PLAN?"

The Marine officers were silent.

"Let me explain, idiots," Tanya said, "I've met that man in person, and he doesn't seem that strong. He must have somehow build up a reputation so that the other Marines would be too afraid to catch him. He isn't actually strong!"

"Then why didn't you just arrest him right away?" A Marine officer voiced.

The girl shouted, "IMPUDENT FOOLS!" Then taking a breath she regained herself and called, "Dracula come here!"

"Yes ma'am," Doctor Dracula, with his spring-like hair and tight jumpsuit appeared beside her.

"Tell them who I am, Dracula." Tanya smirked.

"The smartest woman in the world," The man sang.

"Correct! Now listen up, idiots. Thanks to an amazing plan of mine, me and Dracula made contact with them and assessed their skills. Their not that strong! Right, Dracula?"

"Well ma'am… that punch the kid gave me knocked me out for quite some time…" the man said wavering.

"…" The girls fists shook, "ARE YOU AN IDIOT TOO?" She shouted before regaining her composure again, "Anyway," Tanya calmed down as she pushed her bangs out of her face. "We're going to attack them tonight while they're still tired from the possession. A few cannonballs and they'll be gone!"

"Great plan, ma'am!" Dracula said, but he was the only on that agreed.

One of the others spoke up, "Didn't you say that some of them know you're a Marine Captain?"

"So what if they know my status?" Tanya said, annoyed. "Your questions are only delaying my victory! And the only reason they know is because of your impudence. When we were on the last island, MY OWN BASE, you guys messed up and couldn't even catch that fat man Lucky."

"But you remember what happened." A man defended, "He moved so fast! He had all of our guns in his hands in a flash."

"Don't make excuses," The girl stomped up to the officer, glaring up at the man who was almost twice her height, "Because of you idiots I had to tell some of Shanks' crew members everything, show them that Luffy was coming to _Love Reborn_, and then play along some more; even helping them get to this island! You know how HARD it is pretending to be nice?!" The girl raised her fist and smashed it into the low ranking officer's face. The man got knocked off his feet and fell on the ground as Tanya walked away smirking. "Now," She venomously said into the den den mushi in her hand, "Fire!"

"But," said the Marine on the other end of the phone, "If you believe in your plan so much, why aren't you on the ship as well?"

"SHUT UP AND JUST FIRE!" The girl howled.

"Yes ma'am! " And the marine battle ship that had quietly sneaked up on the Red-Haired Pirate ship fired its cannons toward the enemy.

-- Earlier -- On The Red-Haired Pirate Ship--

The ship's floorboards creaked from Luffy's weight. He had snuck onto Shanks' ship in hopes of finding its captain, but the problem was that he had no idea which cabin was Shanks'. That and the fact it was so dark he couldn't see where he was going.

A _smack_ was heard as Luffy ran into a wall, again.

"Ugh…" Luffy, determined, felt around for a door which he hoped would lead into Shanks' room. _'I can't give up and get caught now,' _Luffy padded his way across the wall in what he thought was a ninja-like manner, _'I haven't even made that much noise.'_

"Oi," A hand grabbed his shoulder and Luffy jumped, "You're keeping everyone awake, stop making so much noise."

"E-eh? B-Ben?" Luffy turned around slowly, trying to see the man in the darkness.

It was indeed Ben, "Ah… It's you Luffy. Some of the crew were complaining that someone was walking around out here running into stuff, so they forced me up here to tell you to quite down."

"Oh… um…"

"Hm?" Ben said yawning.

"Where is Shanks' room?"

Ben gave a short, quiet laugh. He then calmly took Luffy's arm and led him across the deck and in front of a door. He made a small _shhh_ sound and opened the door without making so much as a small creak. Ben motioned Luffy inside, then once the boy was in, he smoothly closed the door and walked away chucking to himself.

Luffy gave a silent '_Yosh!_' when he realized he had made it into Shanks' room. The boy tiptoed across the small space to where he could make out the other man's figure lying on a bed facing away from him.

Now of course Shanks was awake, and by the tell-tale flop of sandals and shuffling of feet, he knew it was Luffy in the room. He decided to fake sleep.

Shanks felt Luffy lean over him, and the man briefly wondered what the boy would do. Only briefly, because the next second Luffy jumped him.

The boy dropped his weight onto Shanks, and then laughed as the surprised man turned onto his back with a pile of Luffy on his stomach.

"Luffy," Shanks began as the boy curled up against his chest.

"Shanks!" Luffy grinned. "Are you going to ask me what I'm doing here?"

Shanks thought for a moment before saying, "Nope," he lifted up the covers, "Just going to tell you to get underneath this blanket if your planning on staying."

"Yay!" Luffy punched the air in success as he jumped underneath and felt the soft blanket fall over him.

They lay in silence for a moment before Shanks said, "Your friend, Zoro…" It had been bothering Shanks for a while now, "He really likes you." he could still remember the image of the two kissing.

"Yeah… but it's ok; because one of my other friends likes him a lot!"

"Really?" Shanks turned his body so that he was facing Luffy, his arm propping up his head.

"Yup, I can tell." Luffy smiled and mimicked Shanks' position so they lay facing each other, sharing the small space of the bed.

It was at that moment that Shanks realized how grown up Luffy really was. Even though Luffy acted like a child, he really did take his position as captain seriously. He watched over his crew, but didn't let on that he could think about more than food and becoming pirate king. Luffy had grown up since all those years ago. Finally knowing for sure that was true, a wave of relief washed over Shanks. No longer did he believe that he had fallen for a little kid.

"?" Luffy blinked at the wide eyes he could see because of their closeness. "Shanks?"

"Yes?"

"You seemed kind of surprised. Do you think no one could like Zoro or something?" The boy laughed at his own remark.

"I wasn't thinking about that." Shanks said dryly, but he was smiling never the less.

"Then what were--" Luffy suddenly stopped talking as he sat up in realization. "Shanks! I almost forgot the reason I came here!"

The red-haired man pushed himself up so he was sitting as well, "What is it?"

"We haven't kissed yet!"

"Huh?" The man almost fell over. Blushing he said, "We did…"

"I mean, as ourselves. Because there was the one time with the ghosts, and then when I was dressed up as a girl…" Luffy stopped talking; he remembered how he had betrayed Shanks, and now he was feeling bad again because he brought it back up.

Shanks, on the other hand, thought Luffy had just remembered how he told the boy he couldn't love him.

"I'm sorry." They both hurriedly tired to get forgiveness from the other, saying the words at the same time.

They looked at each other for a moment before Shanks said, "I'm the one who should be apologizing, Luffy. I said some horrible things to you."

"No," Luffy shook his head, being his rarely serious self, "I should have told you sooner."

"That would have been impossible to do: To just come out and say you're a boy… It's not like you planned to meet me, or make me think you're a girl… You were just acting like yourself."

At the man's forgiving words happiness swelled up in Luffy, "Shanks!" The boy short forward and hugged the other man tightly.

Shanks wrapped an arm around the other's back, "Hey now, don't start getting teary-eyed on me." He joked, but inside he knew how Luffy felt. He was also glad to know he was forgiven.

"Now then, what were you saying before?" Shanks grinned pulling back from the younger man's hug.

"Um… meat?" Luffy had turned back into his usual, comical self.

Shanks sweat dropped. He had hoped they could continue along the lines of kissing, because Shanks had to admit he had a desire for Luffy. But he could control himself if Luffy didn't want to go that far. _'Though we are alone, on a bed…' _Shanks shook the dirty images from his mind.

"Shanks?" Luffy asked.

"Hm?

"I'm 19, you know."

"Yeah."

"…." The boy was silent for a moment, trying to put into words what he had in mind.

"What's wrong, Luffy?"

"Well… you know… most people have done _it_ by 19."

Shanks spluttered, "W-Wh-What?" Luffy couldn't have been thinking the same thing as him, could he? But then again, Luffy was right. And the boy wasn't always as innocent as he pretended to be.

"Will you kiss me?" Luffy asked quietly; he was nervous, and he could practically hear his heard beat. Shanks was so close…

The older man stared at Luffy for a moment, then decided that if Luffy wanted a kiss, then he would be more than happy to give it to him.

Almost painfully slow Shanks leaned in, the bed creaking as he shifted his weight towards the younger man.

Luffy drew closer as well, his hands moved to rest on Shanks' chest, folding as their bodies drew closer. He slipped his eyes closed when he felt Shanks' caressing hand at his cheek.

It was almost as if a magnetic force was pulling them together when their lips finally touched. Luffy exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding, and the air rolled across Shanks' lips. It was a soft kiss, and when Shanks pulled away Luffy found himself wanting more. The boy pushed himself up to his knees and leaned over Shanks, putting his hands on either side of the man's shoulders for balance while he leaned down and pressed his lips to the other's.

Shanks was more than happy as he wrapped his arm around Luffy's waist and kissed back.

A few moments later and they pulled apart. But it still wasn't enough, and tender lips came back in a moment later.

Again they pulled apart from their kiss, only to come back in at different angles.

"Mmm" Luffy ran his lips over Shanks, loving the friction that he got even more than the time they kissed when they fell through the hole in the park grounds. His arms wrapped around Shanks' neck as he pressed his lips deeper to the other's. Being on his knees Luffy was taller, and he used his advantage to shuffle closer without breaking the kiss. Their bodies pressed together, and Shanks had to tilt his head up to reach Luffy's lips.

Luffy pushed his weight against Shanks' body, and the older man felt himself falling back on the bed.

Luffy was now on top of him, straddling him. Shanks felt his body heat rising. Luffy was just so tempting with his soft, wanting lips, and finally it was too much to bare and the older man threw all caution to the wind as he gave into his secret lust. Shanks more than passionately kissed Luffy back. Not breaking his heated kiss, Shanks flipped them over so he was on top, his knees between Luffy's legs. The man's tongue then slid across Luffy's lips, and after a moment the boy uncertainly opened his mouth for Shanks to invade. And he did, teaching Luffy that there was an _even better_ way to kiss. He pushed his tongue across the sides of Luffy's mouth, and then slowly over the other's tongue, trying to get the unsure Luffy to play along. Any small thoughts left in Shanks' mind about scaring Luffy away were pushed out as the boy moaned, clearly enjoying the contact as his tongue moved back in motion against Shanks'.

They broke apart for air, panting. It was getting hot, and neither of them wanted to stop. Shanks leaned down and captured Luffy's lips again, his tongue and Luffy's battling each other.

Luffy tangled his figures into Shanks' fire-red hair, pushing the man's head down more so their lips were hard-pressed against each other. Saliva rolled down the side of Luffy's mouth.

A few moments later and they pulled away again, their tongues separating last as a string of saliva connected them.

Shanks' head moved down to nibble on the other's neck. Luffy moaned and pulled his head back to expose more skin for the older man.

Shanks licked and sucked on a spot until it was bright red, then he kissed his way up Luffy's neck to nibbled on his ear.

The younger man's breath quickened at the pleasure, and he felt his body heat move downwards. The air was getting thick as their kissing progressed. Luffy could practically hear his heart beating in anticipation, as Shanks lay against him. On either side of the older man's body, Luffy shifted his legs slowly and his feet pulled across the sheets. "Ahhh," Luffy gasped when he felt Shanks lick along his jaw line. Luffy moved his head to seal his lips over the other's again. One of his hands drifted down from Shanks' hair to the man's shirt. He tugged on it, hoping Shanks got the notion that he wanted it off. The older man complied, and leaned back up onto his knee so that he could use his arm to pull the fabric over his head.

Luffy watched in eagerness, absorbing the way Shanks' muscles moved with every motion. And as soon as Shanks' shirt was off Luffy pulled the more than willing man back down.

Somewhere in their next kiss Luffy's shirt was unbuttoned, taken off, and thrown to the side. Hot skin came in contact with hot skin, sending a shiver up Luffy's spine. Both men moaned.

Slowly, Shanks reached for Luffy's waist with shaking fingers -- when suddenly the ship lurched violently to the side; almost throwing the two off the bed.

"Wa!" Luffy yelped, and would have slid across the room if he wasn't pinned down by Shanks.

Distant cannon fire was heard, and the ship rocked again, moved by waves created from missed cannonballs.

The mood disappeared when the two came to the realization that the ship was under attack. Shanks growled and pushed himself off of Luffy. He jumped from the bed, grabbed his sword that was leaning against the wall, and stomped out of the cabin ready to kill whatever sorry bastard had ruined his moment with Luffy and attacked his ship.

--

**Author's Note:** Wow that was a long chapter, but I had fun writing it. Especially the Shanks and Luffy scene, which I had been wanting to write for a while now. I hope it wasn't too much for a T rated fic. But they didn't really doooo anything. And they probably never will in this fic. Unless you guys review wanting differently? Or saying the rating should be moved up to M? Or just hating me all together for ruining your innocent minds? (Haha)

**In the next chapter:** Oh no, there's an attack on the Red-Haired pirate ship! But Shanks will be able to take them, right? Find out in Chapter 13.


	13. More Trouble

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece, not me. I also don't make money from this. ;(

Author's Pathetic Note: Ugaaahhhh! I can't believe I just noticed that I've been making a major grammatical error all this time! And with Shanks's own name, for twelve chapters! --bangs head repeatedly on desk-- All this time I've been writing _Shanks'_ when it should have been _Shanks's_. I've probably done that about… 100 times by now? I'd go back and fix it but it's twelve chapters of errors, and I'd rather give everyone an update. So please bare with me. --sobs--

Being a Girl

Chapter 13: More Trouble

--

-- On the Straw Hat's Pirate Ship --

It was late at night when Nami put her cloak on and, unable to sleep, came out of the cabin her and Robin shared. She walked over to the railing and looked out onto the ocean, admiring the way the moonlight had managed to shine through a small crack in the clouds and sparkle it's midnight glow onto a section of the waves below. She was about to turn around and head back in when a cloth, supported by a hand, clamped over her mouth. She tried to scream, but found herself loosing strength. A second later and she fell limp into the arms of a marine soldier, her captor.

"Ok, lets go!" The hooded marine holding the girl hissed to his four comrades as he slung Nami over his shoulder.

Their boots clicked along the deck as they made a hasty retreat from the ship. Just as they were about to jump over the side, Zoro walked up the stairs.

"Oi," He said noticing them, and they froze in their tracks. Only for a second, before they dashed, extremely quick, off the ship and towards the forest not too far away. Zoro unsheathed his swords and ran after them, seeing despite the little amount of light, that they had Nami. But he started off too far behind to be able to catch up before they sprinted into the forest. Zoro ran through the trees after them, but lost them quickly in the darkness.

Stopping, he cursed, "Shit," and resheathed his swords. He then looked around and scratched his head, wondering which way he came from.

-- Back on the Straw Hat's Pirate Ship --

"Was that Marino I just saw running into the forest?" Sanji asked himself. It was dark, but he was sure that when he came onto the deck a moment ago he saw a patch of bright green disappear into the growth of trees. _'And…' _Thought Sanji, _'I heard Nami-san come up here only a minute ago.'_ He mused to himself for a moment before remembering the small running noises he heard as well. "Oh no!" Sanji said aloud, "It can't be… It can't possible be… N-Nami-san and Zoro have run off together in love!"

Sanji threw his cigar onto the ground and smothered it with the heal of his foot, "No… Nami-san can't end up with Moss Head!" And with that determined statement, Sanji ran off into the night.

-- On the Red-Haired Pirate Ship --

Shanks stormed out of the cabin, malicious swirls of black energy circling around him. The younger crew members shivered with the presence of their furious captain and quickly scurried off below deck. The senior members moved off to the sides, hoping to god that Shanks's anger wouldn't have anything to do with them.

"Ah, Captain," Ben spotted Shanks and walked over, choosing to ignore the evil aura coming from him. "It seems one ship, probably a marine battle ship, is firing upon us. It's too dark to see it --that's also why it keeps missing us-- but the moonlight will be out in moment and Yasopp will shoot it down. Until then we're short on cannon balls from our last fight, but we have people defending various parts of the ship. They'll see and break the enemy's fire if it gets close."

But Shanks was an impatient person, and wanted to take his revenge himself. He didn't say anything to Ben's report, but instead walked over to the low-positioned railing on the side of the ship, unsheathed sword in hand. Silently, Shanks closed his eyes for a moment, pinpointing the direction the cannonballs were coming from. In an instant he opened his eyes, raised is sword, and swung down with all his might. A long steam of fast-moving air whipped out across the ocean and into the night.

A split second later the cannon fire stopped with the sound of wood cracking. A few, distant shouts were heard, then it was silent as the moonlight finally shined down to reveal a Marine ship split in half and quickly sinking.

"Wow!" Luffy, now standing next to Shanks, exclaimed.

Most of crew members on deck had backed away into a corner, not having seen their captain so furious in a long time.

Ben, on the other hand, wondered what made Shanks so annoyed. Then he noticed.

It took a moment for everyone to understand, but from the moonlight Shanks and Luffy standing side by side shared a few noticeable changes. They were shirtless. Their hair was extremely disheveled. And most noticeably, Luffy had a bright red, can-be-spotted-even-in-the-dark hicky on his neck.

Shanks stopped in the middle of something he was going to say to Luffy when Yasopp and Lucky broke out laughing.

Shanks looked at them, then at the faces of his slightly embarrassed-looking crew, before he noticed his situation. Luffy of course, didn't.

Ben chuckled and decided that while Shanks was at a loss for words, it would be a good time to tease the man, "Looks like you and Luffy were having a good time before the Marines interrupted, eh?"

Shanks's face tinged red only for a moment. He leaned down and whispered something to Luffy, who quickly shuffled back to Shanks's room.

"Well Ben," Shanks stepped up to meet his first mate's comment head on, "How about I tell everyone what happened at that party on the last summer island?"

Ben wasn't expecting that comment. He lost his composure and spluttered, "Y-You w-wouldn't!"

"Oh, but I would."

The statement was never justified as Luffy came back to Shanks, having retrieved their shirts like the man asked him too.

"Aw, common Captain," Yasopp said after he finished laughing, "We saw what happened before" -- he was referring to the time when Luffy was discovered as not being a girl -- "We're just happy that the _love bite_ Luffy has didn't come from anyone else." Shanks's crew winked and gave their captain a thumbs up in unison with Yasopp.

Luffy laughed as he put his vest on, not bothering to button it.

Pulling his own shirt down after getting it on, Shanks just sighed, defeated.

--

On the beach not far away from the Red Haired Pirates, Tanya gasped from underneath her hood as she saw her ship break in half through her newly designed, night vision binoculars. "Damn, how'd they do that?! Time for plan B... Are they hear yet?" she said.

Doctor Dracula, standing next to Tanya, shook his head. His hood seemed to bounced from side to side, when really it was his spring-like hair moving from the motion his head was making. "No ma'am, but they are the fastest runners we have, so they should come soon… unless--"

"If they failed and those pirates didn't kill them, I will!" The girl sneered.

A moment later and five panting Marines arrived with a knocked-out Nami.

Tanya squealed with delight when she looked at Nami's face from under her hood and recognized Luffy's crew member. "Hahaha!" She pulled out a letter she had written earlier. "Pen," she said holding out her hand.

Doctor Dracula handed her a sliver pen. With it Tanya scribbled Nami's name in the blank she had left between the words _'If you want' _and _'then you will…'_

She handed the letter to a big-boned Marine who she had been told, by Doctor Dracula, was a weirdo that was an expert at making and throwing paper airplanes.

The man, his frown hidden by his hood, rather reluctantly folded the paper into a plane, aimed, and sent it flying perfectly towards the Red Haired Pirate Ship.

It lightly hit a laughing, unsuspecting Luffy on the side of the head.

--

**Author's Note**: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are so nice.

Sorry this chapter was a bit on the short side, but I thought it was a good ending point.

**In the next chapter**: Nami's kidnapped, Zoro's lost, and Sanji is completely wrong with his version of the situation. What will poor Luffy do? Find out in Chapter 14!


	14. Just Talking and Teasing

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: I don't make money from writing this. Also, Oda owns One Piece, not me.

Author's Note: Thank you to the two people who reviewed the last chapter!

Being a Girl

Chapter 14: Just Talking and Teasing

--

-- On the Red-Haired Pirate Ship --

The paper airplane flew swiftly across the span between the Marines and pirates before softly hitting Luffy on the side of the head.

"Eh?" Luffy caught the plane as it fell. "Cool! A plane! I wonder if it flies well?" He straitened out the edge that had bent from the collision with his head and threw the plane back in the direction it came. It landed strait into the sea, where it's message was engulfed by the water.

"What was that?" Shanks asked, not quite seeing the plane before Luffy threw it.

"Eh, just a paper airplane," Luffy shrugged, slightly disappointed that the fun had ended with one throw. "Oh wait…" realization suddenly dawned on him.

"What is it?" Shanks asked.

"That plane…" began Luffy.

"Yeah?"

"That _plane_… made me think of a _plate_ of food! And now I'm really hungry! Shanks, do you have anything to eat around here?" Luffy looked at the man with hungry, hopeful eyes.

Shanks laughed, "I'll see if the cook will make you something."

After Shanks's crew had finished teasing their captain they either mingled around or slowly made their way back to bed. Shanks, with Luffy in tow, weeded through the remaining people and headed over to the kitchen where the cook would most likely be found trying to protect the ship's food from hungry men seeking midnight snacks. For the captain though, the cook must make an exception.

Shanks and Luffy didn't think twice about the airplane, because since when did anyone communicate important messages through paper airplanes? Tanya and the other Marines, on the other hand, began retreating into the woods as soon as they saw the plane hit Luffy, thinking for sure that the pirates would see the note.

--

As the cloaked Marine group carrying Nami walked through the woods to the mansion, Doctor Dracula asked his commanding officer a question, "Ma'am, do you think they read the letter?"

"Oh course!" Tanya looked at him fiercely from under her hood, "You know perfectly well I didn't have anything else I could have sent the message with, because our damn base isn't on this island! Unless you wanted to take a small boat and go yourself?" The girl hissed, "Actually, on second thought, that would have been a pretty good idea."

"Please ma'am," Doctor Dracula hurriedly said, "You misunderstand me; your plan is perfect. They have definitely read the message by now and are probably already heading over to _Love's Peak, _in search of their navigator." He paused for a moment and then began to recite the note that had been written on the airplane, "_'We are Bandits, and we have one of your friends: If you want Nami then you will go to _Love's Peak_, the tower located in the middle of the forest. We will be waiting for you at the top.'_" He chuckled wickedly and gave his version of the events to come, "When they get there they will try to go up those spiraling stairs to the top of that outrageously tall tower, but they will not know until they are halfway up that the stairs slide into the wall as spikes appear in every possible space, including the bottom. Even if they could survive the fall they will be impaled."

The two shared a laugh, which was cut short when Nami stirred slightly from under her cloak.

"Knock her out if she wakes up before we get there," Tanya ordered, receiving a "Yes Ma'am" in reply.

The Marines continued to make their way through the darkness and to their hideout; a mansion located on the outskirts of the town. Little did they know that Nami was long since awake and faking unconsciousness as she listened to the Marine's conversation.

--

"Shanks," Luffy said as he finished his meal almost instantly after it was set down in front of him, "Can we go for a walk?"

"Sure," Shanks, who had been sitting beside Luffy, said as he got up from his seat. Looking around he saw quite a few of his crew lounging about the kitchen and galley hoping the cook would spare them a meal as well. Shanks wondered if Luffy had something important he wanted to tell him without the crew overhearing.

The two walked out of the galley and across the deck to the ladder leading off the ship. Shanks grabbed two of the many capes hanging against railing and handed one to Luffy. After putting them on they made their way down the ladder. Because of years of practice, Shanks, despite his missing arm, found little difficulty climbing down. As soon as both of them had planted their feet safely on the ground a happy Luffy wrapped his arm around Shanks's. The two then walked leisurely away from the ship, enjoying each other's presence. Slowly, Luffy moved his hand lower along Shanks's arm to carefully entwine his fingers with the other man's.

Shanks chuckled as he looked down at their clasped hands and then at Luffy's slightly blushing face.

They walked in silence for a while before Luffy spoke up with what he'd been wanting to tell Shanks for a while now, but had been unable to because he didn't want anyone else to hear. "Um… Shanks, I…" Luffy uncharacteristically mumbled before trailing off.

"Hm?" Shanks prompted him to continue.

"Well, you know, with was happened in your cabin... on the bed…" Luffy looked at Shanks hoping the man would understand what he was referring too.

And as much as Shanks would have liked to tease Luffy and say he didn't know what the other was hinting too, he decided the subject wasn't something to take lightly. "Yeah…?"

"I… I didn't mean for it to lead up to _that_ when I asked you to k-kiss me, but I kind of… liked it." Luffy looked away, face reddening.

Shanks blinked down at the young man for a moment before laughing, "Well, maybe again when you're older," he teased.

"E-Eh!? No fair! I am 19! That's old enough!" Luffy pouted before his attention was suddenly caught by something in front of him, causing him to stop walking. They had reached the tree line. Any further and they'd be in the deep, dark forest that took up much of the island.

"Ah," Shanks said, also stopping. While talking with Luffy he didn't realize how fast they had neared the forest. "We should head back. It'd be dangerous heading in there at night." The man moved to turn around but found that Luffy's hand, currently in his, didn't budge. "Luffy?" He looked at younger man's face. _'Oh no..' _Shanks thought, because from under Luffy's hood he could make out a grin. A grin for adventure.

"Lets go in, Shanks!" Luffy exclaimed as he tired to pull the older man into the looming forest. Inside the thicket of giant trees it was pitch black and deadly silent.

"Lets not," said Shanks, because as appealing as it sounded to go blindly through a forest in the dark, the man was to worn out to explore the whole night away. He tried to quickly think of something that would distract the other from going in. Then suddenly he thought of the _prefect_ way.

"Then what else could we d-" Luffy was cut of when a pair of familiar warm lips pressed against his. He immediately closed his eyes and wrapped his arm, which didn't have its fingers laced with Shanks's, around the older man's neck. Well that was always something they could occupy themselves with…

"Do you always kiss him when you want him to not do something? Because maybe I should try that out on Romeo," A sweet female voice whispered from right beside the two.

--

**Author's Note**: Anyway, between the next few chapters I'm going to start another story. It's going to be a Zoro X Luffy story called _The Wrong Side_. It's a sort of prelude to the next Shanks X Luffy story I'm doing after that, titled _A Piece of Me_.

The reason I'm starting _The Wrong Side _(the ZoLu one) while I'm still writing this story is so that I can get right to _A Piece of Me _(the Shanks X Luffy one) after it's done. And don't worry, updates will not come later because I'm working on another story.

Anyway, you don't have to read _The Wrong Side_ to be able to understand _A Piece of Me_, or vise-versa. _The Wrong Side _just helps set up the mood and character situations for the other one (along with a good storyline I wanted to include). But you should read them both! Because they are going be awesome! It's about Luffy and his crewmembers (it's AU) as "the bad kids." Kind of like gangsters. They all have their different situations and roles they play. Also, it will have some mature content here and there (not as in like the whole story will be about it) but it'll have things such as guns, alcohol, a yaoi lemon(smex), violence, ect. So if you really can't stand reading those kinds of things I would probably skip both stories. Though I really hope you don't.

…And that's all. I pray I didn't just confuse anyone.

**In the next chapter:** Who is this new woman? What is she planning? And who is Oemor? (Can you guess? Hint: Look at the spelling of _Oemor_ in a slightly different way. If you get it then you can also guess the name of the mysterious woman and maybe, if you've been reading closely, who she is.) Find out the answers in Chapter 15!


	15. Helping You

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece, and a good thing too.

Author's Note: Thank you to the two people who reviewed the last chapter!

Being a Girl

Chapter 15: Helping You

--

Shanks and Luffy shot apart at the sound of the new voice.

Luffy looked around bewildered, unable to see who it belonged to, despite the fact that the voice sounded as if it came from right next to them. _'Maybe Shanks is a ventriloquist?' _Luffy's brain tried to provide an answer for him.

Shanks, on the other hand, glared at the spot right next to him. Now that he knew to look for it, he was sure he felt a presence there. "Show yourself," he practically growled, annoyance at having been interrupted, again, laced through his words.

"Please, I mean no harm," Said a woman as she appeared from thin air to float right next to them. Her pale face contrasted greatly with her long, wavy black hair and old-fashioned dress. Her legs hovered slightly above the ground as she lifted her hands to face level, palms open, to show that she had no weapons.

"Cool!" Luffy said excited, "You can fly?"

"I'm a ghost," explained the woman kindly.

Shanks wasn't quite buying it. He put his hand on his hip, since he couldn't quite pull of crossing his arms with only one arm.

The ghost smiled, "Nice to meet you, my name is Juliet."

Luffy laughed, "That's a weird name!"

Juliet huffed, slightly offended, "And Monkey D. Luffy isn't?"

Shanks blinked, "How do you know his name?"

"Why, Red-Haired Shanks, I know a lot how things." Juliet giggled slightly, her laugh light and pleasant, "To tell you the truth, when Luffy -- may I call you Luffy?" Tanya asked the younger man.

"Sure," replied Luffy.

"Alright, well Luffy, when you and your crew docked on this island I followed around some of your friends, and found out the situation between you and Shanks -- may I call you Shanks?" Juliet politely asked again, because Mr. Red-Haired and Mr. Monkey didn't sound quite right.

"Yeah," Shanks said somewhat smiling. _'This _'ghost' _seems pretty polite.'_

Juliet continued again, "I found out the situation between Luffy and Shanks, so when Shanks landed here as well I thought it would be good of me to help you two out… to get back together…" Juliet looked away from the men, "I hope I wasn't intruding."

Shanks blinked, "Are you the person who set up that illusion of Zoro and Luffy together?"

Juliet nodded, "I was able to recreate them because I had seen what they looked like while they were on their ship… I was hoping to stir up some emotion in you so that when you ran into Luffy something might happen between you two… Your meeting actually went really well; you two were practically confessing," Her soft laugh was cut off then she remembered what happened next, "…Up until the wind blew of your hoods…" The lady cast her eyes down to watch her feet as they floated, never touching the ground. "Every ghost, and there are about six or so on this island, has a few powers. Some are special to only that ghost, and some powers we all have. For me, if I close my eyes I can see from any place I want to on this island, excluding inside buildings. I can also recreate people I've seen, and make myself invisible. Most ghosts can make themselves invisible, and also force themselves into the bodies of people who don't have their hood on. But… for all ghosts there are… downfalls. We can't leave this island, go inside buildings, or _feel_ anything, and… if two people, such as Shanks and Luffy, are together with their hoods off and have feelings for each other… Then the two nearest ghosts are automatically sucked into their bodies. But you see, not everyone's bodies can handle another soul, and some… die. If that happens there is a chance they turn into a ghost. Me and Romeo are the first ghosts… and we've… unintentionally caused others to suffer the same fate." The woman looked back up at the two with tears welling up in her eyes. When she saw that they didn't seem to hate her for it, but remained serious and listening, (at least Shanks) she wiped her tears and continued, "When your hoods blew off me and Romeo were automatically sucked into your bodies… and… I'm sorry, I feel ashamed now. As ghosts we don't ever feel anything… and after all these years… Romeo and I got carried away in the moment." She blushed.

"Shishishi, it's ok," Luffy grinned, being the usual forgiving person he was. Or maybe just not understanding what the woman was talking about.

Shanks, also a forgiving person, wasn't bothered from what happened, "It's all in the past now."

Juliet smiled genially at how kind the pirates were and decided that she would help them with what she was about to tell them next, "The reason I came to you though, is to tell your something very important... Luffy."

"?" Luffy tilted his head at the woman's serious expression.

"One of your crew members, I think her name is Nami, was kidnapped by the Marines." Tanya said gravely.

Shanks moaned putting his hand to his forehead, "Oh no. It was Tanya, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Juliet said surprised, "I think she is the leader, but how did you know?"

"My first mate told me she's a Marine Captain," Shanks sighed while rubbing his forehead, "I thought it was suspicious on how she left so suddenly, but I didn't think much of it."

"If Nami's in trouble then we have to help her," Luffy determinedly said, not caring about Tanya when his friend was in danger.

Amazed at how rapidly Luffy's happy personality changed to a serious demeanor, Juliet agreed, "Definitely, and I'll help you too. If you trust me enough to follow me, then I'll lead you through the forest to where they are holding her."

They ran, in Juliet's case; glided, through the forest tothe mansion Nami was being carried to. "You see," The ghost explained, "The Marines are sure you had read the note that was on the paper airplane you threw into the ocean, Luffy. On the note they said that they had Nami, and then lied about being bandits and meeting you at _Love's Peak_, which is a tall tower that is used as a death trap for criminals. Really, they are headed to a mansion owned by the Marines, but because they don't have a base here it's usually empty… When I close my eyes and look for Tanya and her group, who have Nami with them out cold, I can see that they are heading over there. If we run the whole time, maybe we can get there a few minutes after they do." The ghost glided over a particularly large tree root, "Careful not to trip."

Luffy almost did anyway, but Shanks caught him by the arm, giving support.

The older man followed right behind the ghost, with Luffy running next to him. Shanks's gut instinct told him that Juliet was trustworthy. The same instinct he had bitterly ignored when it had told him something might be written on that airplane, and that Tanya was planning something after she'd hurriedly left the ship. But no matter what, he couldn't leave Luffy alone. Shanks looked at the younger man, who's face seemed determined as he followed closely behind the ghost.

"There's another thing…" Juliet said as she glided along without any apparent effort, "Two of Luffy's crewmembers are also looking for Nami. I think their names are Zoro and Sanji."

Luffy grinned in acknowledgment, knowing that even though most of the crew was probably on the ship sleeping, Sanji and Zoro would definitely find Nami. Even if Zoro got lost.

Juliet continued, "…They don't have any type of hood on, but they are both wondering in the forest, far from other people. It's unlikely they'll run into a ghost, and as long as they aren't near anyone who could even somewhat _like _them, or that they _like_, then it's ok. And I mean _like_ as in a crush _like-like_."

"Like-like?" Luffy asked, his usual dense self.

"Love-like." Shanks said smiling at Luffy and looking at him with a gaze that the young man couldn't quite place, but knew was definitely somewhere in the love spectrum.

--

**Author's Note**: Sorry, this ended up as a really informative (and kind of short) chapter. I just hope I didn't topple everyone over with information. (But it's all very needed for what's going to come later.)

**In the next chapter**: Our characters are: Sanji and Zoro who are walking around susceptible to ghosts, Nami who's kidnapped, and Shanks and Luffy who are running to the rescue by following a ghost they just met! What will happen? Find out in Chapter 16!


	16. Working Together

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: The amazingness, known commonly as Oda, owns One Piece.

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are too nice. Not that you should be less nice.

Being a Girl

Chapter 16: Working Together

--

The sun was rising when Shanks and Luffy followed Juliet up to the gate surrounding the mansion. There were only two Marines guarding the front entrance. When Shanks and his group got closer they noticed that the guards were actually two young girls around fifteen, standing in attention and trying to look serious yet glamorous at the same time. "Like, please state your business," one of them said.

"Give us back Nami!" Luffy shouted defensively.

Juliet sweatdropped as Shanks put his hand on Luffy's shoulder to keep the younger man from plowing through the gates.

"We think our friend is in there, would you please let us pass?" Shanks asked nicely. He didn't want to fight with teenaged girls.

"Like, no," the guards rolled their eyes.

Shanks sighed before turning around to whisper to Juliet, "So how come they don't have to wear hoods?" Shanks motioned to his and Luffy's hoods which covered their own faces completely, unlike the guards' who even had their blue eyeshadow easily visible along with the rest of their face.

"It's the hats they're wearing," Juliet answered, "They look like normal Marine hats, but they were made by a scientist called Vegapunk. As long as the hats cause shade to fall over the face, it's the same as wearing a hood."

This time Luffy leaned in to whisper a question, "Are you sure Nami is in there?"

Juliet closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find Nami with her special ghost power. "...She must be inside, because I can't see her. The only time I can't find someone is when they are in a building. But, when I checked on Nami a few minutes ago the Marines carrying her were pretty much at the mansion."

Luffy nodded, "I'll definitely get her back! No one messes with my friends!" The young man turned to face the guards, planning on knocking them out and smashing through the gates. But Shanks again placed his hand on Luffy's shoulder to stop him. Luffy puffed his cheeks out at Shanks, but remained still. Something that he rarely did.

"So…" said Shanks, still hesitant on beating up adolescents, "Is there any way you can let us by?"

"Nope," The first girl said, but the second one looked hesitant. With a sparkle in her eye the second girl leaned over to whisper something into the first girl's ear.

"No way!" The first girl said looking shocked, "You seriously think they're like that?!"

"Of course," The second girl answered, self-assured, "I tell right away, because I've seen so much of _that. _It's like I have a radar in my mind."

The two young guards giggled before facing the three in front of them, "There is _something_ two of you can do."

Shanks wasn't quite sure he liked the way the girls were giggling, Luffy tilted his head, and Juliet hoped it wasn't anything gruesome.

"You two," one of the girls said dramatically as the other one pointed at Shanks and Luffy, "Have got to… make out!" The guards squealed like rabid yaoi fangirls.

Shanks and Luffy looked at each other.

"Oh my," Juliet blinked.

"We can, like totally tell you two are together!" One of the girls cheekily smiled.

The other agreed, "So just a nice, hot kiss and we'll let you pass!"

The two squealed again and hopped up and down in excitement.

'_Fangirls,' _Shanks thought, _'The Marines sure are becoming slack on the people they're recruiting. I'd be practically shameless to kiss Luffy while other people are watch--"_

"Alright!" Luffy clenched his fist, determined.

"Oi-" Shanks tried to say before he was cut off by a cheer.

"Yay!" Cheered the young guards.

"But," one of them said, "We can't see anything from under a hood so put this on," The two girls each pulled out a Marine hat, identical to the ones they were wearing, from a bag they had hanging from their shoulder.

"But you have to give it back afterwards," The other girl said sternly.

"Aren't you a little too trusting?" Juliet asked what Shanks was also wondering as he reluctantly took a hat. Luffy had already put one on and pushed his hood back without anything bad happening. The young man's straw hat hanged loosely from a string around his neck.

"Not really," One girl said.

"It's just that we don't like Tanya, so if you're against her, then we automatically like you." The other girl reasoned.

"Why don't you like Tanya?" Shanks asked calmly while he pulled his hood down after getting the hat on. Nothing strange happened, so it seemed safe to assume the guards were telling the truth.

"Are you kidding?!" Both of them fumed.

"She stole both our boyfriends," said the first girl, "One right after the other!"

"And she's evil," The second girl added.

"Now," Both of them said in unison, "Kiss!"

"Huh?" Luffy pointed at himself and Shanks, "Me and Shanks are suppose to kiss?"

Everyone nearly fell over.

"What did you think the girls were talking about?" Shanks coved his eyes with a hand.

Luffy shrugged, "Don't know, I wasn't really listining. I just wanted to put on the hat because it looked cool!"

Juliet giggled, _'Luffy's funny.'_

The two guards didn't quite agree with Juliet's opinion though, "There's no backing out now!" They crossed their arms.

"Shishi. That's ok, I don't mind kissing Shanks!" Luffy ginned before leaning up and placing his lips on the stunned red-haired man standing next to him.

Shanks was surprised by Luffy's boldness in front of other people, but soon forgot that anyone else was there. He leaned down into the younger man's kiss, snaking his arm around Luffy's waist and moving his lips tenderly against the other's.

Luffy's lips shifted in response, creating sweet friction. He wrapped one hand around Shanks's neck and tangled the other one through fiery-red hair.

They parted slightly and rejoined again in a different angle, a pair of sensitive lips touching and dragging across the sweet surface of the other's lips.

The two fangirl guards and even Juliet held their breathes as they watched with blushing faces.

"Mmm," Luffy used the hand he had in Shanks's hair to push the man's head lower and deepen the kiss.

One of the guards caught sight of a pink tongue and accidentally, from the excitement, took a sharp intake of breath.

At the noise Shanks and Luffy remembered they weren't alone. They broke apart, their faces red from embarrassment.

A blush on everyone's face, things went on quickly and quietly after that. The couple put their hoods on and gave the hats back. Shanks scratched his head and tried not to look too uncomfortable when he asked, "May we go in now?"

The two guards, still in a trace from the wonderful sight that had happened before them, opened the gates without another word.

When the group had passed one of the guards hit her friend across the head, "Like, why'd you have to go and breath!"

"Sorry," The other girl sniffed.

--Inside the mansion--

The room was dimly lit. The only light came from the crack left between the thick curtains covering the window. Tanya sat in a large chair, hands clasped together on top of the oak desk in front of her. On the other side of the desk hovered a male ghost dressed in old-fashioned brown clothes. They had been talking before the door to the room opened.

It was Doctor Dracula who came in. He walked briskly across the room, whispered something to Tanya, and then left the room again.

"Romeo, love, you don't by any chance know where that horrible girl, Juliet, is?" Tanya fluttered her eyelashes at the ghost floating before her.

"No, my dearest, I only control the wind. I can't see anything on this island like _she_ can." Romeo replied, hatefully articulating the 'she.'

"I see… Well, Doctor Dracula just informed me that she has been spotted passing the gate, and is coming here with two of my enemies," Tanya said. She pulled out a drawer in the desk and took something out of it. "Do you know what this is?" she was referring to the object she had in her hand.

"It looks like a knife," Romeo glided closer to the desk.

"It is, love, but it works like the wristband I let you use." Tanya smiled, handing it too him.

Right after Romeo took the knife he solidified. No longer was he see-through, and his feet stood firmly on the ground. "So, it's just like the wristband?" He asked, tightening his grip on the knife, loving the fact that he could actually _feel _it in his grip.

"Yes," said Tanya, "As long as you are touching it, you can feel and be felt. Just like when you were alive. But, this knife also serves a slightly different purpose. You see, the wristband was so that we could be together -- because I know you love me -- but this knife is to remove the obstacle between us."

"Juliet…" Romeo said, malice in his voice. He lightly pressed the edge of the knife to his finger. It made a small cut, and he watched as a few drops of blood seeped from it. "It's so great to be able to feel. Now I will make Juliet feel. So we, my dear, can be together."

"Yes," Tanya smiled darkly.

They kissed, and Romeo walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once he left Tanya frowned and whispered to herself, "All men are the same, they only want girls for their looks. And Juliet will know that also, when Romeo kills her."

--

As soon as Romeo walked out of Tanya's room he was met with a group of five ghosts hovering around him. "Well?" One of the ghosts said, "Can Tanya make us real again?"

"Do you want to know the truth?" Romeo asked looking grave.

"Yes," They replied.

"...Everything is Juliet's fault," lied Romeo, "She was the first ghost, and if she is killed we will all be normal again. That is why I was given this," He held up his knife, "To kill her."

"But you know ghosts can't be killed!" A few in the crowd retorted while others whispered to each other about how they always knew Juliet was the cause of their suffering.

"This knife," Romeo explained, "Makes whoever touches it real. I'm real right now. And when the blade is inside Juliet's heart, she will be real too."

"Amazing!" The other ghosts exclaimed.

Romeo agreed, "A genius scientist called Vegapunk invented it. It will surely free us!"

The ghosts rejoiced at the thought that after so many years they will finally be able to feel, breath, and eat again. They will be spared what they thought would be their eternity of misery and isolation.

--Outside The mansion--

"It's really quiet," Shanks noted as he, Luffy, and Juliet walked down the long cobblestone path that lead from the gates to the huge stone mansion that seemed to loom over them the more they neared it. The sun rose slowly along the horizon, and on either side of them the grass grew green.

"You would think a house this big would have a lot of people in it, or at least with all the windows someone would have noticed us," Juliet considered.

"It's really big!" Luffy ginned while he bounced along the path, "Let's go inside and explore!"

"Did you forget? We're here to find Nami," Shanks reminded him.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy filled his lungs with air before shouting, "NAAAAMMMIIIII!"

"Well, I'm sure they've noticed us now." Shanks laughed.

Juliet chuckle, _'Luffy's very funny.'_

"But if we go in," Shanks said seriously, "Can you follow us, Juliet? You said ghosts can't go inside houses."

Juliet nodded, "I did say that, but I wasn't being very specific. Ghosts can actualy go inside buildings that were built before me and Romeo, the first ghosts, died. Or so I've noticed."

"Then this building...?" Shanks asked.

"I can go into," answered Juliet.

Luffy shouted again, "NAAAAMIIIIII"

They were not far from the double doors that lead into the mansion when said doors suddenly swung open and dozens of Marines stampeded out and charged at the trespassers.

Shanks unsheathed his sword and Luffy put his fists up.

"Since they can't hurt me, I'll go on ahead through the front doors." Juliet said just as the Marines reached them.

One soldier tired to slice at Juliet as she glided forward, and was shocked when his sword passed right through her. The rest of the Marines, who knew about ghosts, went straight for Luffy and Shanks.

With a single punch Luffy knocked out the first soldier that came at him. "Shishishi, did you see that Shanks?" Luffy grinned and turned toward the red-haired man, only to be disappointed when all the men around Shanks were on the ground foaming at the mouth without the red-haired man having moved at all.

Luffy puffed his cheeks, "No fair."

Shanks just smiled, "Lets go."

The two ran forward, Marines falling left and right as they forced their way toward the doors Juliet had entered through only a moment before.

But right as they beat the last of the Marines and were about to pass through the opening, the doors slammed shut in front of their faces.

"Hey!" Luffy grabbed the handles and pulled, but nothing budged.

"Let me try," Shanks motioned Luffy aside.

The red-haired man lifted his sword and slashed at the doors. But his attack only left a thin mark.

"What?" Shanks touched the door, "I can cut through almost anything. This stone isn't normal."

Suddenly a scream sounded from the opposite side of the sealed doors.

"Juliet!" Luffy shouted, banging at the closed entrance.

'_That's definitely her,' _Shanks thought while shielding his sword, _'This must have been a trap for Juliet, because there's no way the Marines could have thought a few normal solders would defeat us. It must have been a distraction. They'd seen us coming and planned ahead to separate the ghost. They'd known she'd go on ahead because the solders couldn't hurt her. But why separate Juliet? Ghosts can't do anything, and nothing can be done to them.'_

--

**In the next chapter: **Juliet needs help! Will Shanks and Luffy be able to save her? Probably not. But we will find out for sure in Chapter 17!


	17. Solving Problems

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece.

Being a Girl

Chapter 17: Solving Problems

--

**PLEASE READ THIS NOTE:** Teiluj's name is now Juliet. Oemor's name is now Romeo. (Before the names Juliet and Romeo were spelled backwards, but I decided to change it. Sorry for any confusion.) --

Juliet glided into the mansion while Shanks and Luffy were fighting the Marines out front. _'Why is it so dark in here?' _She wondered looking around. The ceiling was high and the windows, boarded up by thick wood, were far above her head.

**BAM! **Juliet whipped around when the doors behind her slammed shut. Frantically she tried to push the doors open. They didn't budge. From outside came the voices of Shanks and Luffy. She was about to call out to them when the sound of footsteps reached her ears. The cold, emptiness of the sound made her knees shake and her body tremble. Juliet turned slowly away from the doors and towards the approaching malicious aura that felt like an impending death. A death more than just becoming a ghost.

The sound of steps -- cold, fluid and even -- bounced off the stone of the mansion walls.

"Juliet…" The approaching figure said.

Terrified, Juliet recognized the voice, and would have calmed if it wasn't for the undeniable spite that surrounded in the words.

"R-Romeo," Juliet replied, her voice dry.

There was enough light coming through cracks in the windows and under the door that Juliet could make out the figure of her lover as he neared. Some of the light caught the blade he was holding. Another ray of light fell on his face, illuminating his lethal smile.

Juliet's knees gave out on her. She fell to the ground and pressed herself against the door, which Luffy was banging on from the other side as he yelled her name. But she couldn't respond; her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her.

"W-W-What is this? That knife? And your walking? Why are you here in the Marine's Mansion?" Juliet fumbles over her words, "I-It must be a mis-mis.. misunderstanding." But even she, quivering from her distress, did not believe herself.

Romeo stopped in front of her and stared down his nose, "I'm going to kill you with this knife." Plain, simple, piercing words.

The banging on the other side of the door stopped. The room was silent and Juliet managed to hear the crunch of gravel as two pairs of feet moved away. _'There leaving,' _Juliet thought in horror. _'…Please, come back…someone… I'm scared I'm going to die. Romeo…'_

"There's no one to help you," The man raised his knife.

"W-Why?" Juliet chocked out, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I never loved you. If I had loved you than we would not have turned into ghosts, living in this misery. Do you know the tale the villagers tell?: _If the people who come here aren't really in love when they remove their hoods, then they turn into ghosts. _Ghosts like us_. _Rephrase that and this is what you have: _**If they aren't in love, then they are like us.**_ Not in love."

Juliet shook her head, "N-No."

Romeo raised the knife higher above his head, "And now it's time to get rid of you, so Tanya and I can live together." He swung his knife down with all his might, aiming for the heart of the petrified and defenseless Juliet.

--Meanwhile--

Luffy stretched his arms and gripped the edge of mansion's roof. "Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" He yelled as he catapulted himself and Shanks, who was holding onto him, into the air. They flew up high above their target before gravity pulled them down and they landed onto the roof.

Shanks sighed in relief from under his hood, "Next time you should give more of a warning, instead of saying 'Grab my waist, I know a way in!'"

"Well, I'm sure there's a way in from the roof! It's so weird though that the windows don't have a ledge or anything I could have grabbed on to," pouted Luffy.

"It might have been made purposefully that way..." Shanks pondered as he looked around and saw a door not very far away that Luffy was already running over to. The young man was right about an entrance, and wasn't going to loose any time thinking about the strange construction of the mansion.

As Shanks got closer to the door he noticed that the walls around it were nether long nor wide, but he was sure there would be enough room inside for a staircase or a ladder.

Luffy tried the handle and it didn't budge. The door was locked. Luffy frowned and Shanks, ticked off by all the closed doors obstructing their path, motioned Luffy out of the way, unsheathed his sword, and swung at the door.

Now only did the door break, but the wall behind it was knocked down and debris of broken wood and stone were blown into the distance.

"Looks like that door wasn't made out of anything special!" Luffy laughed as he pushed some leftover debris aside to look for an opening, "Why didn't you just do that to the wall of the mansion?"

"For the same reason you didn't," Shanks said knowingly from under his hood.

"So you heard it too!?" Luffy exclaimed, "I thought I was just imagining things!"

"No, there was definitely someone, probably a ghost, whispering that they'd kill Juliet and Nami if we broke down the doors or walls," Shanks frowned.

"Shishishi, but that's what you did just now!"

"Well, down near the door I could tell the ghost was close by because I could sense their presence, however small it was. Right now, though, I can't sense anything… I guess these ghosts can't fly very far up," Shanks mused.

"Ghosts that can't fly are pretty weird," Luffy laughed at his own logic as he and Shanks shifted through derbies looking for a door. "By the way, Shanks, what do you mean by 'Sense it's presence'? Can you really do that?"

"Of course I can," the older man said smugly, "Every living thing, and apparently those ghosts too, have something called _haki_. Kind of like _life energy_. When we were down there, outside the front entrance, there was us and one other person with haki. On the other side of the doors I could sense Juliet with her haki, an approaching person… and one other person who has strong haki that seems familiar."

"I don't really get it…" Luffy tilted his head. "Oh! I found something!" The boy exclaimed as he pulled upwards on a handle in the ground, causing a panel of stone to lift and reveal a ladder.

"It's too dark to see the bottom," Shanks stated in distaste, though he knew they'd go down anyway.

"Oh well! We got to help Juliet and Nami!" Luffy grinned and jumped straight into the whole, not bother to use the ladder at all. The young man's cloak disapeared last as he was enveloped by the darkness.

"Don't use saving them like an excuse," Shanks said even though he knew Luffy wouldn't hear. Taking a breath, he jumped in and hoped that a pit of flames didn't await him and Luffy down below. Especially Luffy.

--Inside the Mansion --

"A-ah." Juliet's gasped, wide-eyed.

Romeo frowned, trying to force his knife down, but unable to because of the sword blocking it's path. "Who the _hell_ are you?"

Zoro crouched in front of Juliet, his sword effortlessly blocking the knife above his head. "None of your business." He stood up and pushed his sword hand forward, causing Romeo to stumble back.

"Get out of my way," Romeo growled, "You are the one who has no business here."

_--Flashback --_

"_Hi!" A seven girl with long black hair and a pale face cheerfully ran up and hugged her friend._

"_Hi Juliet," Romeo, eight years old, blushed._

"_I picked a flower for you!" Juliet smiled, holding out a dandelion._

"_Thanks…" the boy smiled back and took the flower, his cheeks tinted red, "I'm glad to see your not sick anymore."_

"_Don't worry about me; I'm strong!" The fragile looking girl flexed her pretend-muscles._

_The two children laughed and spent the day, like many others, playing together._

_But those happy and carefree days were over when, at thirteen years old, Romeo was sent to war. A bloody, desperate war with a neighboring island. When he came back four years later he was a distant seventeen year old. But Juliet still loved him, and Romeo, though talking little, didn't push her away. _

_Juliet's father was the mayor of the island, and the mayor did not want his daughter to cry. Because of that, if Romeo broke Juliet's heart and made her cry, he would be forced to leave the island. He did not want to leave his home, so when Juliet confessed her love, Romeo lied to keep her happy._

_Juliet believed his lie blindly. Even at twenty-five years old, when she caught a disease and died, Romeo was still by her side, and she never knew that every year he spent with her caused his hidden aggression to grow. But the moment after she died his spite could not remain quite any more. It burst from him like an evil monster, and he stabbed her dead body over and over. Driven mad from war and his constant lies, he was enraged that no one was feeling the pain, so he stabbed himself and bled to his grave._

_--_

"Even in death I have put up with perfect, heavenly, do-gooder Juliet," Romeo raged, "And I can't take it any more!" He ran at Zoro with his knife raised.

But being able to cause pain also meant he could feel pain. And swordsmen was good at hurting people.

One slash of Zoro's sword and the crazed man fell to the ground.

"Romeo!" Juliet cried out, but her shaking legs could not carry her over to her lover's side.

Zoro shielded his sword and walked over to the sobbing Juliet. He knelt in front of her, "Are you ok?" He asked being unusually nice.

"Romeo… Why did you have to kill Romeo?" Was all Juliet could say.

Zoro signed, _'women,'_ "The cut's not as bad as it looks. He's unconscious, but still alive."

Juliet's crying softened, "That's good… really good…"

"He tried to kill you."

Juliet nodded, "I know but…" She looked over at Romeo and the knife that laid next to him. "But it must have been that knife and Tanya that corrupted his heart!"

A vain pulsed in Zoro's forehead, "How thick can you get; the guy is obviously in charge of his own actions!… And what does this have to do with Tanya?"

Juliet looked to the floor, she knew Luffy's crewmember was right about Romeo, but she didn't want to believe it. "Tanya is a Marine Captain…" Juliet explained, "She kidnapped your friend Nami and took her to this mansion. Shanks, Luffy and I came here to save her. But… it looks like Shanks-san and Luffy-san just left me..." Juliet tried to stifle another sob.

"Honestly," Zoro rubbed his forehead, "What a mess. And they didn't abandon you. They probably went to look for another way in. When I came in here earlier I noticed that the front door to this place is made out of an unbreakable metal. Luckily for me the door was open, so I came in and had a nap before your screaming and Luffy's banging on the door woke me up."

Juliet wiped the tears from her eyes, "I see…" Luffy's crewmate really was a nice guy.

"By the way," Zoro squinted, "Am I still tired or are you kinda translucent?"

"It's because I'm a ghost, Zoro-san," Juliet tried to smile through the tears still in her eyes.

"And you know my name how…?"

"I saw you on your ship kissing Luffy-san."

Zoro sweated, "Well whatever," He stood up quickly, "I'm going to go find Nami. It's too late at night to be running around."

Just then a small, wooden-framed door in the far corner of the room opened and figure came out muttering, "What the hell is this shitty place?"

--Deeper inside the Mansion--

"There!" Nami exclaimed as the lock clicked and the door to her cell swung open. She didn't know what Tanya was planning on doing with her, but she wasn't going to stick around to find out! She had to warn Shanks and Luffy about Tanya's trap, though she wasn't sure if they'd fall for it either way. _'Luffy's too stupid to read a note.'_

Nami ran down the long hallway while pulling the yellow hood of her cloak over her head. Her shoes made small tapping noises as they connected with the stone, but luckily there weren't any Marines around. It seemed they weren't loyal enough to Tanya to guard one measly pirate's cell. Not that she was a measly pirate, but she didn't mind if her opponent underestimated her.

Nami turned the corner, looking for an exit, but what she saw made her skid to a stop. On the other end of the hallway stood Tanya and Doctor Dracula, equally surprised to have seen her.

--

**Authors Note: **I'm sorry I took so long with this chapter! Next time I promise I'll update again within week, and there's going to be a lot more of Shanks and Luffy in it too, since I know they didn't show up much in this one.

Also, there's a new poll in my profile which asks if you want a lemon in this story or not. Please vote on it, it doesn't take long.

And reviews would be really appreciated! I'm not too confident on how this chapter turned out. :(

**In the next chapter:** Is Nami going to be alright? Where in the mansion did Shanks and Luffy end up? And who is that person coming into the room Zoro and Juliet are in? Lets all hope Chapter 18 comes out soon!


	18. Misunderstanding

**WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.**

**Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.**

'…' **what they are thinking**

"…" **what they are saying**

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece.

Being a Girl

Chapter 18: Misunderstanding

--------------

**Summary of the last chapter: **The ghost Juliet is trapped inside the mansion with her crazy lover Romeo trying to kill her. Luckily though, Zoro saves her by knocking Romeo out. While Juliet is crying over Romeo, a familiar person comes across them.

Shanks and Luffy, on the other hand, are trying to find another way into the mansion. They get onto the roof top and, although discovering a ladder leading down into the building, Luffy chooses to jump straight down the hole.

Nami, elsewhere in the mansion, has unlocked the cell she was imprisoned in and is running to tell Luffy that the note Tanya sent actually leads to a trap. Nami is unaware that Luffy didn't even read the letter before chucking it into sea. While running she is spotted by Tanya and Doctor Dracula.

-End of Summary-

When Luffy jumped into the hole all he could see was darkness until…

"Ughf!" The young man crashed through a board that was covering the ceiling of a long hallway. He lay bewildered on his back with broken pieces of wood scattered around him. The remaining piece of board on the ceiling swung from metal hinges which hinted that there had been a way to open the wooden covering rather than crashing through it. That is, if he had bothered to use the ladder.

Laying on his back, with his arms and legs spread out carelessly, Luffy turned his head left and right but saw only the empty hallway, illuminated by the light which came through the cracks in the boarded windows.

Luffy knew he was forgetting something though, and when he turned his head forward again to look at the hole he fell through, he remembered what it was.

The young man saw a glint of white in the darkness of the hole. Within a second the white formed the shape of a shirt, and then Luffy saw a black cloak which waved around with the force of acceleration as Shanks crashed down onto Luffy.

"Ow," They both groaned.

"I'm sorry," Shanks said from atop Luffy, being careful to support his own weight, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Luffy smiled and wrapped his arms around Shanks's neck, giving him a chaste kiss. "I feel like this has happened before." He was referring to the incident in the park.

They both laughed, then Luffy said seriously, "Do you think Juliet is alright?"

Shanks nodded, kissing Luffy back, "I'm pretty sure Zoro was inside that room, because I could sense his haki near her. But I also felt someone else who's haki seemed more vicious."

Luffy grinned, "Zoro will definitely save her! He's a lot nicer than he lets on."

"I'm sure he is," Shanks said with a pang of jealously.

The younger man noticed the change of tone and chuckled, "Don't worry, I like you the best, Shanks!" They kissed again before Luffy said, "Then lets go find Nami first!"

--------------

"Oi!" Zoro yelled, "What are you doing here curly-eyebrow?"

Juliet blinked at the man that came through the door. '_Oh yes, he is another one of Luffy's nakama. But… he doesn't have his cloak on!'_

"Mosshead!" Sanji said coming closer, "So this is where you are! I came in here by chance, but to think that you ran off to this type of place with Nami-san!" Sanji glanced at a worried looking Juliet, "And now your with another pretty lady?!" The chiefs eyes burned with fire as he stomped up to Zoro.

"Idiot, you've got it all wrong!"

Juliet exhaled in relief as they quarreled. The rule was that if two people in love had their hoods off at the same time then the two nearest ghosts would be pulled into their bodies. But lucky this wasn't the case with these two.

Yet a second later Juliet was proved wrong when she felt a gush of wind, and suddenly found herself with a sword in her mouth and two more in her hands.

Sanji was lying pass out on the ground in the same way that Romeo, now nowhere in sight, had been.

Uh-oh.

-----------

Nami froze when she turned the corner and saw Tanya and Dracula at the other end of the hall staring her down.

"What are you doing out of your cell?!" Tanya screeched.

"Escaping, obviously," Nami said as she quickly removed the three pieces her clima-tact from the strap on her side.

Tanya glared and motioned with her head for Doctor Dracula capture her.

Dracula took a step forward and Nami started to twirled her weapon pieces.

"Are you going to show us a magic trick or something?" Tanya laughed as she too advanced.

"Something like that," Nami said coolly. She glanced up quickly to make sure her cloud was forming, but when she looked forward again Doctor Dracula was lunging at her with an knife in his hand. Nami barely avoided getting cut by taking a quick step back. Still spinning her weapons, she dogged a second slash. Then Tanya and the doctor attacked at once and Nami flew back from Tanya's punch to the stomach.

"That," Nami stood up wincing, "Was hardly a punch. Now why don't you look up," The navigator pointed to the ceiling as she released a little ball of electrically from her clima tact.

Following the ball Tanya and Dracula looked up, "When did the cloud--" **ZAP!**

The two Marines fell to the ground, their hair fried and expressions shocked. (('Shocked' get it? Haha.))

Nami shook her head, "It's embarrassing to think I was even caught by you."

The navigator stepped over their still forms and continued down the hallway.

----

"Um, uh," Juliet fidgeted and looked around. She had no idea what to do with these swords! She had never even touched a weapon before, and having one in her mouth unnerved her. But she couldn't take it out while she had swords in her hands. _'But how do I put these back in their little homes' _--the sheaths -_- 'without cutting myself? Zoro-san might get mad if I just leave them on the floor…' _While Juliet fumbled over this Sanji's still form began to stir as Romeo awakened.

"Oh no!" Juliet, in Zoro's body, paled when the other man stood up.

"R-Romeo!" Zoro said holding his hands to his chest, but careful of the swords still in his hands.

"Ugh," Sanji rubbed his head, then seeing Zoro he raged, "You! You ruined everything!" Sanji grabbed the knife that was still on the floor from earlier and ran at Zoro, "This time you die!"

"N-No! Romeo, please!" Zoro cried squeezing his eyes shut when Sanji lunged at him.

Luckily though, Zoro's muscle memory automatically made an "X" with his swords that caught the knife between the steal of the two blades.

"Oh!" Zoro said, tears running down his face when he saw that he was still alive.

"Bastard!" Sanji tried to push his knife through the block, but his strength was no match for Zoro's toned muscles.

All Zoro could do though was hold his position as tears streamed down his face from the terror of it all.

Their deadlock continued as ghosts drifted into the room to watch. The other spirits had felt a possession take place and came to see who it was.

There were about five of them and, since they couldn't physically do anything, they cheered loudly for Romeo to "kill!"

"Ugh!" Sanji shook as he focused every ounce of his strength forward with his knife, but to no avail.

That's when Nami came dashing through a nearby door after following the disturbing cheers that called for death.

The navigator stopped when she saw the mess, and it took her a second to process it all: Sanji and Zoro were fighting… that was normal. But Zoro was… crying?! What the hell? Sanji looked like a rabid animal, and there were see-through people crowding around them.

Nami scratched her head, "There's only one way to deal with this…"

The orange haired girl walked over to the two men and, raising her fists, hit them over the head so hard that they fell to the floor without a single twitch. The ghosts quickly glided off and Nami was left in a situation she deemed was 'under control.'

"But I still have to find Luffy in case he decided to follow that note," The navigator picked Zoro and Sanji up by the back of their shirts and started to walk toward the double doors door that, grudging from the light coming through the bottom, led outside.

----

Luffy and Shanks had been running along a corridor hoping to find Nami when suddenly Luffy stopped. The boy backtracked a few steps and peered though a large crack in one of the boards that had been nailed across a window. "I see Nami!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Outside?" Shanks asked.

"Yeah! She's wearing her yellow cloak." Luffy said as he punched the board, effectively removing the wood.

On the second floor, looking out the window, they saw Nami holding Zoro and Sanji by their shirts and dragging them across the pavement away from the mansion.

"Nami!" Luffy called as he leaned out the window and waved his arm.

Nami turned around and recognized the boy despite the black hood covering his face, "Luffy! --I knew you were too stupid to read a note-- What are you doing in there!?"

"Me and Shanks came looking for you and Juliet."

"Juliet?"

Shanks answered, "She a ghost girl that should have been with Zoro."

Nami looked confused, "I didn't see any girls with Zoro, but when I found him and Sanji they were acting weird."

"Weird?" Shanks and Luffy both asked.

"Yeah, Zoro was crying and Sanji looked like he was trying to stab him."

Luffy laughed, "Zoro was crying?! Shishi, He must have been possessed or something!"

Shanks rubbed his chin, "Probably; neither him or Sanji have anything covering their faces, and after hearing Juliet scream earlier I'd think she would have be crying."

"You think Juliet was possessing Zoro?" Luffy tired to follow.

Shanks nodded, "And maybe the person who made her scream had possessed Sanji."

Luffy's eyes twinkled as he hugged Shanks excitedly, "Shanks, your so smart!"

Nami stepped closer to the window, "So Juliet's a ghost you met? Like the kinds that possessed you guys earlier?"

"Basically," Shanks tried to explain as Luffy nuzzled his face into Shanks's chest, "It's kind of a long story, but if you just put a hood over their faces like you did with Luffy and me they should return to normal."

"Then I'll go ahead and take them back to the ship." She said before addressing her distracted captain, "Alright Luffy?"

Luffy poking his head out of Shanks's cloak and grinned, "Alright! Good job, Nami!"

The navigator smiled and turned to leave before saying, "By the way, I beat up Tanya and Doctor Dracula for you guys."

"Awesome!" Luffy laughed as the girl left. His arms were still wrapped around the older man's back in his previous hug when he looked up at Shank, "I guess it all worked itself out! But," The young man pouted, "I didn't even get to beat Tanya up!"

Shanks ruffled the young man's head, "Don't you think the one who gets kidnapped deserve to do it?"

"That's true," Luffy nodded, "And I bet Nami kicked their asses good!"

They both chuckled, completely unaware of the ghost that was quietly gliding through the wall behind Shanks.

This ghost, a perverted man in his late thirties, had a special ability. His ability allowed him to posses people even if they had their faces covered. And that was just what he did. Sneaking up behind Shanks, he forced his way into the red-haired man's body.

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head to the side when Shanks suddenly stiffened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." The other man mumbled, his expression hidden by his hood. Shanks's hand, which had been ruffling Luffy's hair a second ago, slipped downwards and rubbed the younger man's groin.

"Ah!" Luffy jumped back.

Shanks stepped forward and pinned Luffy to the wall.

"Wha!?" Luffy pressed his arms against Shanks's chest trying to lightly push him away. But Shanks was strong. Luffy's gasped when he felt that hand at his groin again. It rubbed back and forth across his pants and he squeezed his eyes shut. _'What's Shanks doing all of a sudden? In a place like this?'_ "Ah!" The hand reached into his pants. _'These may feel like Shanks's hands,' _ Luffy tried to push the arm away, _'But it definitely doesn't feel like him'_ With that final thought the young man summed up his strength and elbowed the older man square in the chest.

Shanks landed flat on his back. He lay their motionless for a moment before Luffy saw the ghost of a different man glide out of him and fly away cursing.

"Shanks got taken over by that ghost?" Luffy scratched his head.

Just then the red-haired man sat up and rubbed his chest in pain, "What happened?"

"Shanks!" Luffy rushed over to the man as he got up, "I think a ghost took over your body, but I punched it and it flew away!"

"I thought they couldn't if my face is covered…" Shanks blinked, "What did it do? It didn't try to hurt you, did it?"

Luffy fidgeted and looked away, "Um, no… not that."

"What?" Shanks questioned.

"Er…"

"What?" Shanks asked again. He patted Luffy shoulder and moved the young man's chin left and right looking for damages.

"It's not…" Luffy blushed and turned around, "We better go back to my ship to make sure Zoro and Sanji are okay." And with that the younger man patted away, leaving a desperately confused Shanks to catch up.

-----

**Author's Note: **And that's the end of this chapter! Sorry for the outrageously long wait. I have nothing to say for myself.

By the way, there's probably going to be smut in the next chapter! I'll post a lemon warning right before it so if you don't want to read it you can skip right over that part. Also, because of the lemon, the rating of this story will probably be changed to 'M.'

Comments are appreciated to know I'm not doing a horrible job.

**In the next chapter:** How will Shanks react to Luffy's unease? What about Zoro and Sanji? Does the fact that they were able to be possessed mean that they have feelings for each other? And what about the Shanks and Luffy lemon?! Find out next time in Chapter 19!


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